Green terror tankmates

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cichlidthinker

Aquarium Advice Freak
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The tank dimensions are 40 inch length 16 inch depth and 20 inch height, not a standard 55



Hoping for some medium sized cichlids or maybe bigger,

And an ancistrus, do not tell me the tank is not big enough to have more fish because 1 green terror is in it , give me your ideas :)

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The tank dimensions are 40 inch length 16 inch depth and 20 inch height, not a standard 55

Hoping for some medium sized cichlids or maybe bigger,

And an ancistrus, do not tell me the tank is not big enough to have more fish because 1 green terror is in it , give me your ideas :)

Sent from my RM-875_eu_euro1_267 using Tapatalk

I'm someone who isn't too over cautious with stocking etc, i certainly don't follow things like aqua advisor too rigidly because i know from experience that you can often get away with more than it says.
But, as stated on your other thread, long term you're pushing it with a GT in that tank. It's probably fine at the moment, i have one thats a bit bigger than 3" and it would be fine in my 55 at the moment (and for a while) but i've seen a big male in a shop several months ago that would really have been too big for a 55. It was charging the glass as i went up to it, and it was then that i decided i would have to get one at some point. I have mine in a 130G but i have other big guys with it, and i'll be putting it in a 180G eventually.

Tank mates wise, i'd honestly say you would be risking anything with it in a 55. They can be phenominally nasty, trust me. Maybe a 10 inch pleco. But i would upgrade to 100G + if you really want to keep it long term and especially with anything else.

If you have a female though, you might be ok with the 55 and with some good sized barbs and a pleco.

Mine is male, but not fully grown and it lives well at the moment with an EBJD, Oscar, Male Sajica, Severum, Silver Dollars, Bala Shark, Gibbiceps and Featherfin. But as stated, thats in a 130G

Not meaning to be rain on your parade, but that would be my honest advice based on first hand experiences and a lot of reading up.
 
Havent even bought the green terror, i always research first :) so i couldnt have even a convict male with him ?
 
Pictus cats could work but I'm not sure how that would be in terms of bioload.
 
Havent even bought the green terror, i always research first :) so i couldnt have even a convict male with him ?

The problem you have, the way i see it based on that huge male i saw, is a really big fish that can be so aggressive (that it charges the glass when you go near it) in a comparitively small space. I stood there watching it, thinking i wouldn't like to be a smaller fish in a moderate sized tank with that monster. They are my absolute favourite fish i have to say, they have the colour, body shape and personality combination that no other fish can match imo.

I'm only advising you on my personal opinion and what i would do, obviously i'm aware that you could get away with it, but it's risky. I would mention as well that this big male i saw was with a female, which probably made it extra aggressive. From my experience with my smallish male, if i put any cichlids of similar size or smaller in with him, they usually end up looking pretty tatty or really beat up quickly so i have to remove them and put in another tank. The same could be said about my male Sajica though so it's not unique to GT.

Pictus cats would probably work if introduced while the GT is small but the same could be said about a lot of similar fish. If you haven't got one yet, try to get a female. They don't look quite as stunning but you would probably get away with one in that tank with a male con and pictus / pleco, maybe barbs. If you get a male, i still say upgrade to be able to keep it properly.
 
GT's and pictus cats

I was able to keep a pictus cat with GT's. They hardly ever interacted. Had a nice cave for the pictus cat where the water flow was really good. made the cave with two rocks and a piece of black slate rock; while the GT swam in the more open water. I originally had them in a 5 foot long 80 gallon show tank, but later downsized to new 55 gallon. That bigger tank was an older glass tank and the silicone seals were starting to look questionable so I made that change preemptively and was glad i did. Fish didn't seem to mind, and I only had 1 GT 1 pictus 1 pleco and a couple of zigzag eels. everyone was happy.
Feeding was fun. Used Hikari floating pellets for the GT. After lights out, fed sinking food to the pictus. Since it was a regular pimodella and not a spotted one, it's body was entirely silvery with spotted tail. I would drop sinking pellets at different parts of the tank, and within 5-10 seconds the catfish would smell the food and zero in on it's location. Love keeping GT's they really develop repor with the fish keeper.
 
I moved my Rainbow to a slightly calmer tank as the GT was giving it a hard time, and today i put a fairly large male con in the same 130g as i wanted one to eventually breed with my female ive had a while (in another tank). To start with the GT ignored the new con, but at the moment it's decided to start 'having a go'. The con is bigger. The con is also getting stick off the male sajica (predictably) and unpredicably off the Severum too. They're pretty tough fish cons so hopefully it'll ride it out until things settle down a bit.

Just to give you a bit more real life experiences with GT's, Cons and big cichlids generally!
 
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