Plec and Fahaka

[lilacamy931]

Nooki is growing well and am thinking of trying a plec with him to help aid with the tank environment, I do realise this may not work and there is a secondary tank the plec can be transferred into but would appreciate thoughts and suggestions as know some plecs are more armoured than others.

Does a plecs helpfulness outway its waste production?
Anyone had successes of mix and what species of plec used?

[Pufferpunk]

Nope, the plec poos more than a fahaka! Have you tried any fish with him yet?

[kgolden]

I wanted to try fish with my juvenile fahaka but what fish would have the best chance.

[lilacamy931]

Hey Pufferpunk thanks for that (simple answer for a simple question ) another one im afraid, I wish to try him with some to see a reaction and if cohabitable but unsure what to try with him? Of course anything going in will need to be quaranteened etc. What would be a good to try first? Im thinking dependant on speed, size? i think I remember reading and being advised you had yours with other fish and were one of the rare lucky few, what sort of fish did you go for?

p.s. to add that know if it does work what might work now may not work down the line. Know tetras are out as they are bite sized, wondering plec as armoured and different level, otherwise unsure what to try with his level on.

[we_tigers]

I keep mine with a sajica with no problem so far but we will see..

Tank mates are really trial-error, and depends on the personality of your fish, so it will vary.

I had to keep a red wolf fish with mine for a while, that got really ugly

[lilacamy931]

Thanks for that, Im thinking of trying some of the bigger barbs.

[Pufferpunk]

If the fahaka is intolerant of tank mates, no pleco armour is a match for it's bite. I have a friend who's 4" fahaka bit an 8" pleco in half, before it was out of the bag.

Filbert is strange in that there are several tank mates he let live to adulthood & then ate them. I never knew tiger barbs could get that big! Then there was the EBJD, who was introduced to Filbert as a 1" baby & then he ate him as an adult:





Unfortunately, the stress of the attack killed it.

[L!$A]

Nala my fahaka would kill anything I put into her tank, so if you do try something, just be prepared to take it out right away if you have to!

[Pufferpunk]

Also keep in mind that most killings happen overnight, in the dark.

[KorrepZ]

Does a plecs helpfulness outway its waste production?
Anyone had successes of mix and what species of plec used?

Like PP said, a plec poos more then an average fish. I had one in my tank along with my young fahaka and found me cleaning more plec poo then fahaka poo.... I also had to remove the plec because it was being attacked and chaised by my fahaka. I think any fish that sits still for a few hours at a time at the same spot is a very good potential target for a fahaka to terrorize.

I only put small, fast and active fish in with my Fahaka like Danios. Eventually he will eat a few if he's fast enough but this does not happen very often but still keeps him very active as a hunter.

[Troender]

Puffers are smart enough to go for the vulnerable part of a pleco: it's belly. I've seen it first hand when my abei took a good bite of my pleco's belly. He was removed and put in another tank, and luckily healed nicely.

[lilacamy931]

Well a small update, I went and got a small shoal of barbs and they have been with him a week and so far no casualties, ok I do know that it may/probably s going to happen over the coming weeks/months/years but a good start, especially as I thought they wouldnt make it out of thebag because he was chewing through until I realised there was a random shrimp in the same bag he was after! LOL When I released them I distracted him down one end.

[lesleyanndunn]

what type of barbs amy?
ive still got live shrimp in my fahaka tank
he will take a swipe at them when first sees them
but then he loses interest and swims away!
some hunter lol

[lilacamy931]

LOL Im sure he will get them evenutally!!! I went for Odessa ones in the end as they were pretty and also large to start with!!!