i think my SAL is just the exception, and for the record, it did live with the bichirs for a long time, but this just goes to show that it isn't entirely foolproof, at least when keeping with smaller bottom dwelling tankmates. On the flip side, you wanna make sure you don't keep the SAL with aggressive or nippy fish. e.g. mine had a large section of its tail bitten off once by either a jardini or giant gourami.
Anyway if you keep the SAL with similarly sized fish, it should be worry-free. And i've seen it work with smaller tankmates as well. you asked if anyone can vouch for this, i'm afraid i can't speaking from my own experience. But generally speaking, i think it should be fine keeping the above in mind.
Anyway, previous to this incidence, my SAL bit the pectoral fin of two of my lapradeis, about half its size in length. in one case, it tore the pectoral all the way to the fleshy part.
But the last straw was this (see pics). the buettikoferi is a few inches smaller than the lapradeis, so it's definitely less than half the length of the SAL. Mass-wise, of course it's even smaller in comparison.
My guys is a couple years old and he's touching the 3 foot mark and litteraly 3.5" thick...he's a beast.
