30G with 2 Parrot Cichlids & 10" Pleco, who else can live here?

M

mrfryc

Chris Fryc
Aug 17, 2007
53
0
0
43
Waterville, NY
I have a tank that I intended to have a bichir in, and plans, as they do, have changed. I now have a 10" pleco and 2 parrot cichlids in it. I would like 3 or 4 more fish possibly. From what I understand, and I may be wrong, the parrots are generally calm for cichlids. There is a beautiful fish at PetSmart that is labeled only as a "Malawi Chrysonotus" that vertically striped light and dark blue. I haven't been able to find out much about him on the net, but he is in his own tank by himself at PetSmart. Naturally I don't want someone aggressive in the tank, so I was wondering if anybody has any personal experience with him.

Some other guys I had though about possibly adding were a catfish or 2 (I was thinking pictus) or possibly a dragon goby. I have always wanted the dragon goby, but for one reason or another he never seems to fit into tank plans... will the pleco bother him?

If anybody has any other suggestions I'm completley open. Also I should probably note that to accomodate the pleco, I do plan on upgrading to a 55G tank down the line (LFS owner thought 9 to 12 months).

I should probably also note I have aquarium salt in this tank.
 
I'd be hesitant to add any more fish.
is this a common Pleco?

if so you may have issues even with a 55 some of the common can reach over 20"( I have seen plecos at this size and they looked cramped ina 150)
I've heard mixed messages re the adult size of blood parrots.

so I am hesitant to suggest any other fish ith these. I do believe the can reach at least 6"

so keep that in mind.
also why aquarium salt?
 
1. Aquarium salt is most likely unnecessary, unless you're treating for ich.
2. Dragon gobies, aka Violet gobies, are brackish water fish and won't do well in that setup. Aquarium salt doesn't make brackish water, and the rest of your fish won't like real brackish water.

I wouldn't add anything else before upgrading the tank. Even after, the blood parrots will get up to about 5-6", and the pleco can get pretty huge as well depending on the species. I don't think I'd add anything else other than maybe a school of tetras of some sort.
 
I wouldn't mix an Afican Malawi fish in with your South American Blood Parrots. You would probably need to upgrade tank size if you wanted to have anything else with your BP's. BP's tend to be hit or miss with aggression issues. Some can be peaceful community member's and others can blood thirsty behemoths. I would trade in your pleco if he is a common to your LFS for store credit or cash.
 
star_rider said:
I'd be hesitant to add any more fish.
is this a common Pleco?

if so you may have issues even with a 55 some of the common can reach over 20"( I have seen plecos at this size and they looked cramped ina 150)
I've heard mixed messages re the adult size of blood parrots.

so I am hesitant to suggest any other fish ith these. I do believe the can reach at least 6"

so keep that in mind.
also why aquarium salt?
Click to expand...


To answer questions, yes on the common pleco, and the aquarium salt is to treat for potential ich. I have two tanks and in the other one (the one without the large pleco) I lost 2 corys and a dojo loach when I introduced a clown loach I think had ich issues. The clown loach also died, but shortly after my fish died all the tanks at PetSmart were treated for ich (I assume) bc they got in very few fish for 2 weeks, then all the tanks had a blue tint to them. So I'm just being safe rather than sorry.
 
Just be aware that there is a potential for the pleco to be one of the larger common's(common incorp many pleci's not yet catargorized.)

I can understand your due dilligence on the ich.

some would question if that is a good course to follow. Ie don;t treat unless you have the issue ..but I commonly treat for internal parasites on new qt fish.
 
There's your problem my friend, never buy your fish from petsmart, I've found that 90% of their employee's know nothing about fish, I seen one of their fish associates telling a guy a 10g is fine for an Oscar, and I had to step in and tell him he'll need a 75g or larger for a single Oscar because of their size. So yeah never get fish from petsmart. Find a good LFS and stick with them, most of the time a LFS is willing to order you any fish thats availible on their stocking lists. I stick to 2 LFS in my area, and they order anything I may want thats not in stock, and if they don't sale what I'm looking for they try to find it at a good price.
 
MySpace Mike said:
There's your problem my friend, never buy your fish from petsmart, I've found that 90% of their employee's know nothing about fish, I seen one of their fish associates telling a guy a 10g is fine for an Oscar, and I had to step in and tell him he'll need a 75g or larger for a single Oscar because of their size. So yeah never get fish from petsmart. Find a good LFS and stick with them, most of the time a LFS is willing to order you any fish thats availible on their stocking lists. I stick to 2 LFS in my area, and they order anything I may want thats not in stock, and if they don't sale what I'm looking for they try to find it at a good price.
Click to expand...

That's been my first problem with PetSmart. Because of it I'm very hesitant to buy fish there again. The gold dojo loach I lost (which was also from PetSmart) I had for a long time, and he was very friendly. I grew up with fish in the house (my father kept them for a while, then switched to larger koi for his pond) and know well enough not to trust what any one person says when it comes to fish, especially someone making minimum wage whose job it is to get as many fish out the door as possible. My parrots and pleco are both from the LFS and they're both doing great so far. I'm hoping a couple weeks of water changes with aquarium salt would get rid of any potential ich.

I DO have a problem with Pet Supplies Plus, and won't shop there. None of their non-feeder fish tanks can be larger than 5 gallons, if that, and the majority of fish in the store are usually dead. Not exajurating, both filters in the feeder fish tank are usually clogged with dead fish, and the rest of the tropical tanks are 1/2 full of dead fish. It's very sad to look at.
 
I would get a bigger tank as soon as you can afford one. The common pleco will outgrow the 55 as well and will soon(if not already) be a large waste-maker, so IMO I would trade it to a LFS for a smaller(maybe exotic) pleco. As for tankmates with the parrots I would say small schooling dither fish. I would'nt put any african cichlid in with the parrots.
 
Like others said, you defiantly can not add any more fish, the one you have now is to small for the parrots&pleco alone :]
 
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