Could a royal Pleco go in a tank with a pair...?

[RickieH]

Could a small Royal Pleco go in a 125 gallon six foot tank with a pair of 6-7 inch ancistrus cats. The ancistrus cats have only bred once and since then they have been hanging out at opposite ends of the tank. There is also a Syn. decorus and some cichlids in there.The tanks has some driftwood ,rocks and slates for hiding places.

[Shane]

Rickie,
Can we get more info on the tank. Temp, pH, filtration, frequency and volume of water changes, etc? Also, a full listing of tank mates and their sizes. "Some cichlids" could be anything from three Apistos to 12 Oscars.

[RickieH]

I have two male trout cichlids the largest being about 8 inches with three female trout cichlids Champsochromis coeruleus of about 4 inches. I have one pair of Amphilopus longimanus at about 3-4 inches, one extra male longimanus, one synodontus decorus of about 5 inches. Also one male ancistrus of about 7 inches and a female of about 6 inches. I also have two placidchromis Milomo VC10 which I'm bringing in to a Fish store in milwaukee.
I do a 40-50 gallon water change about every week. I have a fluval 440 cannister filter and a penguin 330 filter. I use Zeolite/carbon mix for the active media.

My temperature is 76 degrees farenheit, my pH is 7.2 and the total alkalinity is 120 kh.

[Shane]

You can try a panaque, but they are not ideal candidates for a Malawi cichlid tank. You will need to add lots of driftwood for the panaque to eat, which will lower the tank's pH. Lastly, I would recommend, if you do decide to add a panaque, that you start with a fair sized one given the cichlid population.
-Shane

[RickieH]

I'll take your advice and when I get the Royal Pleco I'll put him in a 55 gallon with my red hooks until I eventually getthe trout cichlids to spawn and then I might get some choclate cichlds which should get along in a somewhat softer environment.