what cichlids will get along with a common 6-7 inch pleco?

Matching other fish to a Pleco? This is a first. For most people the Pleco is an afterthought. Almost any cichlid will get along with Plecos. Any cichlid that will fit in your tank should be fine. Keep in mind the water parameters required for these cichlids. Most Plecos prefer neutral-to-acidic PH water, whereas African cichlids prefer alkaline, hard water. Check your tap water and choose accordingly.

From what I understand, plecos can put up with a lot. They are a pretty well armored fish. Their spines can sometimes help fend off attacks. Now, I've seen my plecos with some damaged fin, but they end up healing just fine and the cichlids we have leave them alone.

Hope that helps.

Lila

JB parrots, convicts, Nicargensus, demasoni, long-finned oscar, hap. venustus, green terror, Yellow lab., german peacock. Those are the cichlids that I have rooming with plecos.

I also have a large Jaguar cichlid that I will not put a pleco in with.

Not all in one tank mind you. I own eight.

Lila

I had the same pleco for years in my tank, and the only thing that I noticed about him was that when he was in the tank when I had nicer fish like severums and things of the sort it grew a lot faster and was more active. But when he was with my oscar, he was more ellusive and did not grow nearly as fast, I think this was due to stress from the occasional attack. But even when he got attacked, he did not really get hurt, those fish are very tough when it comes to getting nipped. If anything with some cichlids I would be scared for them, my pl*co would attack fish sometimes, even though he really could not hurt them...