L190 and tank size

[coheedandcambriarules]

Hey folks,
I've never posted much on here but I've been a frequent lurker for quite awhile. I'm looking for several opinions from those who have kept these guys and are fairly familiar with them. I have a lot of respect for the opinions here obviously, and I'm wondering what some here think about keeping this fish in a 90 gallon tank. I'm planning on starting a 90 gallon tank to replace my 30 gallon and I would really like to have a royal. The tank is still in the very early planning stages (haven't even bought the tank yet) and I'm concerned about a full grown royal having enough room to thrive. My wife has limited me to a 90 gallon (if I know what's good for me) and I'm trying to decide on a stock list. The tank will be filled with drift wood with sand substrate, lightly planted, and fairly overfiltered. I'm always looking at the adult royals at lfs's and I wonder if they really have enough room. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see one residing in a 90 gallon. I guess this boils down to: how big of a tank do you keep your large panaques in and/or what do you see as the minimum tank size for one of these guys? Also - How fast has your panaque grown? I've heard conflicting opinions on this. I will eventually have a larger tank (125+) but I can't count on rehoming one either of course. I don't think being in a 90 would stunt a royal but I guess it's hard to know for sure. I'm very familiar with the profile here as well.
Thanks for your opinions,
Tim

[pLaurent1251]

I"m a fan of "bigger is better", but the standard 90g is 48" long, so that should be okay. My quibble with most tanks is that they're for display only, so even though long, they don't have much room for large fish to turn around in.

I like to keep my tanks slightly understocked and well filtered to avoid problems, spikes and fluctuations, so a lot depends on what else you're planning on putting in there and how the bioload will be impacted.

That's a beautiful fish. I'm jealous!!

[coheedandcambriarules]

Thanks for the reply -
If I went with a royal my stocking would be built around it to accomodate the higher bioload generated by a swimming chainsaw . The other occupants would include a couple other small plecos like BNs and/or some of the smaller hypancistrus. I haven't decided on those yet since I will probably go with different ones if I don't have a royal in the tank. The rest of the tank mates will be schools of cardinals, Harlequin rasboras, corydoras, 6 Boesmani Rainbows, and a pair of rams. Oh, and I can't forget my pair of what I believe are parotocinclus spilosomas. The school size of each would be adjusted down for the royal of course - probably no more than 6 or so of each. I'm not sure this setup would be called "understocked" by any stretch of the imagination but I'm painfully aware that the royal would limit everything else. Filtration will be an eheim 2028 pro 2 and a penguin 150 HOB. I plan on adding a small powerhead depending on how much current the other two filters produce. It will be an experiment for me since I've never seen an eheim working in person. I'm confident I can keep up with the bioload of a large panaque since I'm used to changing lots of water already (I'm a fan of 50% wc weekly). Anybody else have thoughts on a royal in a 90 gallon? It will only take a few opinions in the negative for me to scrub the idea. I haven't had enough personal experience with large plecos and their activity levels and ability to turn around to know for sure about the size. Also if anyone has comments on their growth rate that would be much appreciated!
thanks

[pLaurent1251]

I'm no expert on plecos, so I'll leave it to others to comment on your choices for this tank.

I just have to mention the addition of the rams, however. They won't be very happy in this tank with fast-swimming, large rainbows and plecos competing with them for places to hide. They need lots of plants and caves for refuge, and a tank with quieter companions. They won't care for the strong filtration, need softer, pristine water and will be unable to compete for food with the rainbows.

If you want cichlids, I'd put something a little tougher, bigger, hardier and bolder. OR, this could be a good excuse to set up another tank for Rams and small tetras!

Just my observations from having kept Rams myself!

[drpleco]

Maybe consider an L191 instead of the L190? It's a nicer looking fish, IMO, and doesn't get as big. LDA63 (according to aqualog) maxes out around 8" as well, and looks really nice. That fish might be the same as L27c "tocantins" here in the catelog. Might be hard to find with the ban on brazillian panaques, however.

I'm not a fan of mixing cardinals and rainbows, either. And bolivian rams might be better than blues. Otherwise sounds like a great tank.

[Lornek8]

LDA63 according to the Cat-elog is the same as L27c 'Xingu' which would top out at around 15"SL. Even if it is 'Tocantins' vice 'Xingu' it'll still get just as big.

I do concur with an L191 though. Should stay smaller than most other Royals.

[coheedandcambriarules]

All good points guys, thanks. L191 is what I'm thinking at the moment because smaller is certainly better. As far as the rams/cardinals go, I already have one ram and 6 cardinals in my 30 gallon so those will most likely be going in the 90 gallon when I get it going. I've thought about it before with the activity level of the rainbows being a problem with both. My LFS has a rainbow tank with cardinals in it so I was thinking it might work but it seems there are some dissenting opinions... I was thinking a couple of angelfish would be nice instead of the rainbows. I think the cardinals are plenty big enough to avoid angelfish. Thanks for the L191 idea again. I didn't realize that one stayed a bit smaller. Any more suggestions about the royal or any potential stocking issues?