jesp Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 I have a little 'tiger pleco', which someone gave me, not sure what type it is exactly. It has orange and black marks and is about 2 inches or so right now. Looks very similar to this picture. I want to put him in my 50 gallon with my lake malawi / victoria cichlids. They vary from 2 - 6 inches and are lightly over stocked to reduce the aggression. Is he going to be fast food? Has anyone else tried this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipset Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 With the size of fish and their temperaments, its gonna be at best hit and miss. Some people pull this off with no problems though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbruun Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 I've got a few plecos with my africans. Only see them at night though. Always hiding in the rocks. Everything in my tank is still young. Not sure how things will go as they grow though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraken Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 Looks like a Clown Pleco. It's a gamble with the Cichilids as they will most likely kill the pleco. If you have lots of hiding places it may work out for you. :smokey: Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfishal Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 I have kept many different kinds of small plecos with all kinds of African cichlids so you should be fine just be sure the pleco has somewhere to hid and also keep everyone happy and fed and it will be fine. And yes it looks like a clown pleco but a much better colored one then I'v seen in awhile! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted November 30, 2009 Report Share Posted November 30, 2009 Give the little guy his own camoflage and the cichlids will more than likely leave him alone and he'll go and eat at night so some algae wafers after the lights are off are a good idea. I had a clown plecco in my over crowded 30 gallon and he did fine because the rock substrait was black and brown stripped rocks and there was a piece of driftwood. Don't worry too much about the driftwood messing with PH if you have some crushed coral or some kind of buffer rock inside. If you were in edmonton i wouldn't mind giving you a handfull of those rocks for his hiding pleasure but as it is you aren't so maybe you can find some there. If you come to edmonton in the near future and still want some then give me a shout in a PM. As my insane Female betta can tell you the Africans don't seek out others in the tank but instead only bite and nip at fish that get too close to "food" areas or Hidy holes they have staked out or are breeding competition. I hope you have good luck. Have a great day L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Polit Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Just my 2 cents... I think that you are asking for trouble. I have lost several plecos, including bristlenose, to cichlids (yes....I am a bugger for punishment). 2 of the plecos were at least the same size as my cichlids. One had the flesh plucked from it's skeleton and the other was stressed to jumping out of a very small hole at the back of the tank and dried up on my carpet. Not something that I, personally, would try again. Good luck whatever you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Its kind of a trial and error kind of a thing and it depends on the tank. It really depends on the individual cichlids. I"ve had little clown plecos and rubbernose plecos do fine with mbuna and haps. The africans never paid any attention to them at all, even when they came out on the glass. But another time I tried adding a small(2-3") BN pleco to an african tank with horrible consequences. I came back to find the pleco dead and ripped to pieces. Now I stick to 4"+ plecos in my african tanks and give them lots of little hiding spots. If you really like your tiger pleco I wouldn't risk it. Chances are you wouldn't even see it if you added it to an african tank anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murminator Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 I have a small rubberlip pleco >3" in with big Mawali's 5"+ for about the last 3 years if he is out during the daytime they might give him a peck but he is a lot faster than them and takes off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 I had 2 other pleccos in with the clown plecco and with the cammo rocks the clown plecco didn't even have any fin nips unlike the LF AB BN plecco and the common plecco. I only ever saw them go after the little clown when he went after food in the main feeding area. I'm fairly sure that if you find rocks that are a near match like i did then you will have little to worry about. Your best bet is in a tank with bigger cichlids and a number of too small for them hidy holes. Nothing is a sure fire garuntee but the things i mentioned will make the odds of survival allot higher. Good luck with whatever you choose to do L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 I definitely wouldn't stick that in your tank. Even large commons get beaten up from time to time. and I am not sure how he would fare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shmeg Posted December 13, 2009 Report Share Posted December 13, 2009 I have a clown pleco and bristlenose in with my Africans and they are fine. Making sure there is a lot of hiding places is the key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted December 13, 2009 Report Share Posted December 13, 2009 With the size of fish and their temperaments, its gonna be at best hit and miss. Some people pull this off with no problems though. ditto I have done it and had success. I have also had a small pleco with my africans and they killed it. But if you give the little guy lots of places to hide, you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesp Posted December 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Great news so far. First of all, he is actually about an inch in length, a pretty small guy when you actually get him to come out. But he is doing just fine. I just saw him 10 minutes ago, and I don't think there has been any trouble yet. I think that I can attribute his survival to lots of little cracks in the rocks, the gravel is the same colour as him, and finally that somehow I have the best cichlid tank in the world where nobody fights and everybody is friends no matter their racial background. I guess we will see if that keeps up. Thanks again for all the advice on the subject. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLake Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Here's my experience if it helps anyone. I grew a small albino pleco out with a bunch of peacock fry. They lived together happily for 8 months. At that time I put the pleco in my shell dweller tank to clean up alittle.two days later I put him back with the peacocks he grew up with. Sometime within the next few days I noticed they had killed him! Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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