Anyway, I am setting up a 180-gallon tank which will house some (eventually) large South American cichlids. The particular fish are Crenicichla acutirostris (a "peaceful" but large-growing pike) and Hoplarchus psittacus (true or green parrot). The tank has a Pangea background, which I have heard can be chewed up by wood-eating plecos, like the royal. I am looking for a pleco (or plecos) to add to the tank, and am looking for some recommendations. The things I'm looking for:
-must have some size. While the fish that will be in the tank are not the terrors that I have in some of my tanks, anything less than half the size of the pike might be too tempting to pass up. I am not interested in feeding that kind of expensive food to my fish.
-must do some cleanup work, both in the algae and leftover food departments. I have a rhino pleco in a different tank that does a marvelous job...would like the same type of qualities, but would prefer a little diversity between the tanks.
-I would prefer to see the pleco every now and then.
-I want to avoid one that is a high risk of chewing the background.
-I want a pleco that can stand up to the cichlids, without necessarily being too aggressive.
What would you recommend?
Thanks!
