Large Cichlid with Small Bichir?

[DMD123]

I had a male regani (12 1/2"+) with 9" polys and had zero issues with him and them. He was more concerned with other cichlids instead. But if you end up with a mated pair you pretty much can be sure they will take over and attack anything that comes near. With my large male regani he would get 'moody' each spring wanting to mate and would terrorize the other cichlids to the point where I had to pull him out and cool him down for about three weeks and reintroduce him. Even then never did he even care about the polys.

 

[Guenivere]

Oh awesome! Yeah, I'm not 100% sure about keeping other cichlids with these guys. My hope is that the severum will have a different enough body shape that he won't be immediately seen as a threat, but I'm still on the fence about the honduran reds. On the one hand, their relation to convicts dictates that they can take care of themselves, but they ARE a different breed and known for being more laid back than typical convicts so... That being said, I have a few small caves that only they could get into. I'll just have to wait and see what the regani end up being like - I'm actually more likely to try the hrp's if my big guy is more aggressive just to split his attention away from his mate. But I don't want a bloodbath on my hands either.
My assumption with thet bichir was that they're so different that the regani wouldn't regard them as a competitor - BUT I'm also concerned that if I get a bichir at a size it can live with my current setup with the congo tetras it will also be seen as a sweet little wormy snack to the regani. I'll just have to wait and see what hapens when they're totally settled I think; no matter what I'll probably end up trying a bichir with them at some point.

 

[DMD123]

Yeah polys can look the part of mean aggressive fish but in reality they are fairly calm and peaceful and can easily be picked on by other fish. You will have more issues with cichlids than polys.

 

[Guenivere]

whell if it doesn't work out I have a nice excuse to get another tank I could work it around the bichir to make the bf happy. I'd put a juvie bichir into my 70 gallon planted tank with the apistos and angels to grow out, but I also have some black neons in there I don't want to lose, and a pair of teeny apistogramma panduro only about 1.5". I'm thinking they would be food?

 

[DMD123]

While peaceful the bichir do like to eat... And sometimes that means tankmates that fit in their mouths. l would not put them with smaller fish.