Sailfin + Royal Plec?

[Ferris]

Just wanted peoples opinions on whether a Sailfin and a Royal Plec would be compatible in a 125 gal which will also include an Oscar, a Green Terror and 3 Bala's. The tank is currently cycling and includes lots of Bogwood/Mopani wood, several rocks and some good hiding places.

Thanks in advance

 

[mells]

Just wanted peoples opinions on whether a Sailfin and a Royal Plec would be compatible in a 125 gal which will also include an Oscar, a Green Terror and 3 Bala's. The tank is currently cycling and includes lots of Bogwood/Mopani wood, several rocks and some good hiding places.

Thanks in advance

Hmm, I think it would depend on the size of the catfish, and if they have there own territory.
I have a Royal (1 foot big) which lives with a 15inches Common and they get along good, dont get me wrong the common knows its place & who is boss, but I have no trouble with them living toghether.

I also have in the same tank, two green terrors and 3 oscars, which I made the fatal mistake of adding in, My Royal & Common hide all the time now, which before the oscars & terrors came along they didnt hide.

I have since made the decision to sell my oscars and green terrors, and add more peacfull fish.

Not sure about the Balas and the oscars green terror though, I would have thought the bala was a more peacefull fish and perhaps will get attacked from the oscar or green terror.

One more thing on the catfish's size, is that my oscars pick on my common, so they need to be a large size if they are to survive, survival of the fittest.

I hope that was of some help,

Mells

 

[Ferris]

Cheers Mells,

My sailfin is currently 8" and i would get the Royal and the bala's at a decent size. The oscar and GT will be juvies (couple of inches at most) and the plan is these 2 will be too small to cause any harm to the other fish (for a while at least).

This method of letting them grow up together has proved very successful with Mbuna and other Africans i have kept so i'm hoping it will also work with a couple of SA monsters.

 

[Ferris]

Anyone got any thoughts on these 2 monsters sharing a tank?

 

[freddyk]

All I can say is that when I consider the appetite and mess of my current Royal Pleco, I wouldn't want more then one even in a 125 gallon tank. I don't think I'd worry about the cichlids, the GT will probably end up too busy beating up the Oscar to pay attention to the Plecos

 

[Ferris]

Cheers freddy, i agree there's a risk mixing a GT and Oscar but i guess its one of those that i've got to try. Feel free to post some i told you so's if i start posting with problems.

Out of interest what do you think about Bala's (3 big ones) with a GT/Oscar?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

dunno about the bala's but it should be ok with the Oscar........ or so I'm hoping anyway as I've just bought a royal plec to grow up to a decent size then put in with my Oscar, bloke in a LFS who appeared to know what he was on about said they'd be fine. I've 2 other tanks he can go in if they don't get on though so fingers crossed they'll be fine!

 

[Ferris]

I decided against the Royal in the end and put my L14 in instead as he would have outgrown the 30 gal anyway. Everyone is getting on fine.

@ freddyk - I put the GT in the 55 gal in the end to avoid any bust ups with the Oscar, there is enough aggression in my Mbuna tank so played it safe with this one.