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can i add an eel or catfish?

3K views 29 replies 5 participants last post by  allaboutfish 
#1 ·
I would like to add an eel or cat to my 120 high if I can. The stocking is as follows:
1-blood parrot
1-kirin parrot
1-green severum
1-jack Dempsey
1-cutterI cichlid
8-12-rainbow fish
1-common pleco
I have 2 canisters and plenty of rock work.
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#4 ·
Were it me, and the pleco you have is commom pleco,then I would find new home for it and this would free up room for say Raphael catfish.
Common pleco's are often purchased as clean up fish, but if you consider the waste cretaed by these large fish,,then they provide no benefit to trying to maintain water quality.
 
#7 ·
You will have a difficult time getting the eel to be fed without the other fish getting in the way or eating all it's food. I'd avoid putting eels in this tank period.
 
#11 ·
Eels do not eat algae wafers. They are shy eaters and it is very likely you will have quite the difficulty making sure it is fed with your current stock. It would be different if you could rear the eel from young, in a separate tank and train it to eat from your hand. Unless you have a tank and the patience to do this and then place the eel in the main tank, I strongly maintain you do not do not get an eel.
 
#15 ·
You;ll have the same issue with the BGK. You will have to do one of two things with either the eel or the BGK. Either convert it to pellet food so that it can eat with the other fish, or you will have to train it to be hand fed, that way you can target feed it. Making sure that the fish can eat well is of the utmost importance before you go adding it to a tank full of fish.
 
#18 ·
I think I would try the eel before a BGK, if I were to try one at all. Yes, you can try to teach it to be hand fed in the 20. I would try to convert it to pellets first though - hand feeding would be a last resort for me.

I think what you are asking is not something that many people have all that much experience with. I'm certainly no expert on either eels or BGK, or some of the cichlids you have, so I really don't know if it's likely to turn out.
 
#19 ·
I'm very confident I'd be able to get food to them. The main thing I need was to see which would be OK bioload and size wise. I have the time and patience to pellet or hand train the fish if needed. I would rather have the bgk so I'll try to find some more info on them before diving in.
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#20 ·
So I think the bgk would be fine with the size of the tank and the tank mates. There plenty of room for him since the cichlids hang out in the middle. Nobody harrasses the pleco so I don't think anything would harrass him. And I do have 2 canisters and some plants so I think I'm gonna go for the bgk. I'll pellet train him in the 20 and maybe hand train him in the 20.
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#21 ·
Good luck. I am trying to train my BGK to eat pellets....
 
#23 ·
I'm not entirely sure yet. Big fish ;-)
 
#26 ·
From a bioload perspective, probably not. However, from a compatibility point of view, I dont know - I don't know enough about some of your cichlids.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Sorry to break your enthusiasm here but your 120 gallon tank is not big enough for a BGK. These guys need wider tanks and if yours is a tall, than turning around as an adult is going to be an issue. They do not have very flexible spines.

You are better off getting an eel (if one at all)as it won't be a bioload issue, and the peacock will be very comfortable in the size tank you have. Although...compatibility wise I'm not convinced ins a good idea to put it in with potentially aggressive cichlids. Peacock eels are not aggressive fish. They are shy, and very very peaceful. If you could comfortably go with a larger sized eel that probably would be better as it is more capable of putting up a fight for itself. I don't know if any of the larger species will suit your tank as it's not an area I am well versed in yet. Some of those larger species are more aggressive and as such may be better suited.
 
#28 ·
Sorry to break your enthusiasm here but your 120 gallon tank is not big enough for a BGK. These guys need wider tanks and if yours is a tall, than turning around as an adult is going to be an issue. They do not have very flexible spines.
I agree, I think the tank is a bit short in length. But it's wide. I also agree that an eel would be a better choice.

As far as inflexible spines - my BGK is about 12 inches long and when it was netted, the fish almost folded in half. It was also able to turn around in the bag. Both things I did not expect, after hearing about how inflexible they are.
 
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