fish community

[funkadelic1022]

i have a tank of mixed cichlids and one lonely gurami. now we just lost our plecko to some aggressive behavior in which he lost both his eyes, his nostrils, and his fins. they were great tank mates for nearly a year. is there any other fish that can mix with the community to help keep the tank clean? would a plecko much larger than the cichlids stand a better chance? our last one was about 4-5 inches when he died. the average size of the cichlids is 2-3 inches.

[Fishboydanny1]

pleco's normally arent bothered by cichlids bisides fin nipping... looks like a larger pleco might be your only "cleaner fish" you can get. you really don't need a cleaner fish if you keep up your weekly partial water changes, and occasionally use a paper towel (or sponge) to wipe the algae. get rid of the gurami!!! he will be killed at some point, i garentee it! how big is your tank? what species are you keeping? any pictures for ID?

[funkadelic1022]

I have a 60 gallon tank. current fish are: 2 electric yellow, one electric blue johanni, 2 convicts, and my blue gurarmi. hes the only one from the original cycle of the tank that made it. the pleco hung for almost a year without issue until just recently. a larger pleco would do it or will it lose its eyes like the last one?

[hellfire]

if they ate his eyes,, they will do it again .I have no cleaner fish in my cichlid tank and it does fine

[Sus]

As I've heard pleco is a hit or miss in any mbuna tank, bristle nose has better chance of survival if grows up with cichlids in the same tank.
Other good points for BN: it cleans better and stays smaller.

[susankat]

I don't think a bn would survive this tank, They are much better cleaners but not good with africans.