My New Tank

[josh_g]

I sadly had to rehome my pleco after just 2 days

my flowerhorn was battering him around the tank.

Thats the problem with flowerhorns they just get so mean. And trying to fish fish into an established FH tank is a nightmare.

Yeah your right there. I won't be trying any other fish with him. He will have the tank to himself

Just read what I wrote "trying to fish fish" lol I meant add fish haha. What about taking the FH out adding some diff fish. Tough ones like pleco and other big cichlid. Then putting the FH back in few weeks later?
When my jag was battering my JD I took the jag out for about 5 weeks put it back in about a week ago and no signs of aggression yet. Where before the jag would hunt the JD down no matter where the JD hid the jag would find it and beat it

 

[dbanner]

Hmm now that's something that I hadn't thought of doing be worth a try. I did try taking the FH out, then rearranging the tank, put a new fish in, then adding the FH an hour or so later... That didn't work but maybe leaving it a couple of weeks like you did will work. Thanks for the advice

 

[Fluval-1200]

You could try putting some sort of partition in the tank, so there in the same tank jsut cant reach each other

 

[Tuxyu3]

You could try putting some sort of partition in the tank, so there in the same tank jsut cant reach each other

Surely that would defeat the point of having a tank large enough to house them?

 

[snazy]

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with the idea of a big fish in a tank not suitable for the size but most "common" plecos besides the gibbiceps which dbnanner and fluval-1200 actually have, don't grow as big as 18", no way. Go and research the maximum potential sizes. A common pleco at 12" is not stunted. There are types(common) that max out at that size. Max size for the most common of the commons called Pterygoplichthys pardalis, is 13.8". On another hand, your plecos Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps, grow to 17.7".

Being the owner of a common pleco myself I think it's not the lenght of the tank for plecos, they need to be wide and tall so they can turn around easily and suck up on the glass up and down. He also "plays" by going in circles on the glass. I've never seen him racing along the lenght of the tank so a 4F is ok for a very long time as long as it does have the height and width and the tank has plenty of driftwood for them to go and explore, and obviously the filtration to cope with the load. The only time I would see mine swimming in a straight line along the tank is at feeding time when he scans the bottom for wafers. Other than that he's normally doing something upside down/sideways/cirlcing, etc...

Here:

On this one, he's leaning over dwarf hairgrass without damaging it

He's always amazed me how gentle he is for his size. I've got a tiny bristlenose and it already behaves like a bulldozer.

At 7.5 inches he still cleans the glass and plants and looks rather small in a 4F tank.

 

[Fluval-1200]

Thats seems true, im quite annoyed tbh cause the shop told me its a common pleco. I did have my doubts, now 2 out of 9 fish have died that i bought from there and ive been sold a sailfin not a common.

Wont be buying from them again lol

 

[dbanner]

You could try putting some sort of partition in the tank, so there in the same tank jsut cant reach each other

Surely that would defeat the point of having a tank large enough to house them?

I see your point. That's for the advice but I don't really want to use a tank divider. If it is a case of he can't be housed with anything else then that's how it has to be. He is an awesome looking fish and I don't think I could part with him but it would be nice if I could have something else in there as well.

And I meant thanks* for the advice lol

 

[josh_g]

Try taking the FH out mate and then adding it later after new fish are established in the tank. My Jag still paying no attention to my JD. Or if that doesn't work why not add a group of smaller cichlids like convicts that the FH will find hard to catch

 

[dbanner]

When you say a "group" of convicts.. How many would you add? Iv always like convicts tbh but thought because they were small the flowerhorn would kill them

And "fluval"... Don't mean to hijack your thread mate.

 

[josh_g]

When you say a "group" of convicts.. How many would you add? Iv always like convicts tbh but thought because they were small the flowerhorn would kill them

And "fluval"... Don't mean to hijack your thread mate.

This thread has been well and truly hi-jacked. He has started another on plecos though. If the tank is 125g why not add a group of 5. Your almost certain to get a breeding pair anyway. Make sure there is a few good hiding spots, that the FH can't fit into and you should be ok I reckon. Convicts are tough, boisterous cichlids so even the fought of being chased around by a big mean flowerhorn shouldn't prevent them from swimming around freely. I think once the FH realises he cant catch them he might just give up and leave them to it. Thats what my old Pacu did anyway and it killed everything else in the tank big enough for it to catch up with

 

[dbanner]

It's 120 gal so not much difference in size really to a 125. I can definitely make hiding places in the tank.

Ok so if I was to get convicts, how would they need to be? My flowerhorn is 6 inches

I meant how big* would the convicts need to be?

 

[snazy]

Do you have a video of the FH dbanner? I'd love to see a 6 inch nasty fish

 

[dbanner]

There are 2 videos of him on YouTube (dbanner2804) although they were both taken when he was a bit smaller (around 4-5 inches) and he was calm... Well calm compared to usual flowerhorns. My daughter (who's only 8 yrs old) keeps asking me if she can take a video of the flowerhorn going for my fingers lol so nice of her, it's not what I'd call pleasant, having a 6 inch fish that wants nothing more than to bite you lol

Iv been meaning to do an update video of him. Not that he's grown all that much in length (an inch or so bigger since last video) but he has got noticeably deeper and wider.

 

[snazy]

Thanks dbanner. I'll have a look.

 

[snazy]

Just wached a couple of your videos. It's hard to imagine that he's aggressive by looking at his peaceful swimming . He's lovely looking fish. And the tank looks empty

I love the colour of the sand. He keeps picking invisible stuff from it