Delhezi bichir and blue phantom Pleco?

[Taminik]

So I got a Delhezi bichir recently he’s like 6 inches now in a 150 gallon tank with an Oscar and parrots since all these fish are quite messy I wanna get a Pleco as I like them in general and blue phantoms look cool. When I found out that large plecos eat bichir slime coats and end up killing them I was disappointed. I asked my lfs if I could keep plecos with bichir and they said that commons due to their size can usually pin down a bichir but smaller ones usually can’t. I’ve heard of other plecos not bothering bichirs but I’m still afraid to get one. From what I’ve seen delhezis get to 14 inches which would be double what a blue phantom Pleco grows to. I feel that they would be fine together long term but I’m not sure.

Anyone care to weigh in on this?

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

I had a similar pleco, the green phantom pleco. During its lifespan, I kept it with plenty of fish that could have been easy targets, and it never ate any slime coats; it was very peaceful but messy like most plecos. A blue phantom shouldn't cause problems, especially with a larger fish like a bichir. The only problem I see is that the bichir could eat the pleco once it gets larger. If the bichir eats the blue phantom, it could be a nasty financial blow because Blue Phantoms are pricey for small plecos; it was like that when I lost my green phantom (which is slightly cheaper than the blue but still expensive).

 

[Taminik]

I had a similar pleco, the green phantom pleco. During its lifespan, I kept it with plenty of fish that could have been easy targets, and it never ate any slime coats; it was very peaceful but messy like most plecos. A blue phantom shouldn't cause problems, especially with a larger fish like a bichir. The only problem I see is that the bichir could eat the pleco once it gets larger. If the bichir eats the blue phantom, it could be a nasty financial blow because Blue Phantoms are pricey for small plecos; it was like that when I lost my green phantom (which is slightly cheaper than the blue but still expensive).

Thanks for your input but I don’t think my bichir even when fully grown can eat a blue phantom
I might have my friend grow out a blue phantom as the only blue phantoms in my area are small.

 

[Deadeye]

Typically, a pleco is going to just add to the bioload more than it will actually clean. The best workhorse pleco is going to be the bristlenose, as it stays relatively small (but big and armored enough not to get eaten) and has a big appetite. I think phantoms are on the better end, but I don’t know exactly how well of cleaners they are. I have a 3ish inch bnp with a 6 inch del with no issues, though I’d expect any problems to come from the cichlids or leporinus in there.
Matth05 has a phantom and can probably talk better about them than I can.

The main point is that an Oscar, parrots, and bichir is already going to be a pretty heavily stocked tank (anything with an Oscar is lol) so adding another fish will only add to that issue unless you religiously keep up with water changes.

 

[Matth05]

Typically, a pleco is going to just add to the bioload more than it will actually clean. The best workhorse pleco is going to be the bristlenose, as it stays relatively small (but big and armored enough not to get eaten) and has a big appetite. I think phantoms are on the better end, but I don’t know exactly how well of cleaners they are. I have a 3ish inch bnp with a 6 inch del with no issues, though I’d expect any problems to come from the cichlids or leporinus in there.
Matth05 has a phantom and can probably talk better about them than I can.

The main point is that an Oscar, parrots, and bichir is already going to be a pretty heavily stocked tank (anything with an Oscar is lol) so adding another fish will only add to that issue unless you religiously keep up with water changes.

I think you meant to ping someone else Deadeye. No phantom Plecos here .

 

[Deadeye]

I think you meant to ping someone else Deadeye. No phantom Plecos here .

Dang…now I have to remember who it was! Hopefully I can recollect it or they can find this thread.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

I think phantoms are on the better end, but I don’t know exactly how well of cleaners they are.

I can attest to the cleaning part, they are pretty bad at cleaning lol. My pleco liked to rasp on my rocks and wood, and occasionally rasp on the glass, but beyond that, it was pretty lazy with cleaning/eating algae off the side of the tank.