What size tank do you guys think i can put 2 oscars a common and a royal pleco ? I know big do you think 125 gallons would be okay?

Long term, no... the plecos will get huge so it's suggested the you have at least a 6x2 foot print, so like 180 gallons. I would suggest re-homing the one or both of the plecos for a 125.

I would just drop the common plec and you should be ok in the 125.

yea i thought the four of them would be pushin it in the 125. thanks for responding

cellowithgills wrote:


aggreed, i have a 1 foot pleco and a 8" pleco, combined with2 o's, one at 11', one and 9", and a 180Gl suits them right.
mind you i have some extra tankmates too, but i wouldn't want to keep the plecos and O's in a smaller tank than the 180Gl.
No aggression between the plecos?
I did have issues when starting out with 2 plecos.
but things settled down.

You will be ok with 2 oscar and a plec in a 125g for quite some time. However you may find yourself doing a lot of water changes. Something to bear in mind, most shops my way will take in a plec less than 12 inches but wont touch one large than 12inches (due to the difficulty of rehoming them)

no aggression because they are not in the same tank yet. I have the os and the royal in the 125. I wanted to add the common to the tank but was doubtful because of the bioload. I know royals are supposed to get big too.

better to upgrade the tank, instead of downgrading your stocking.
But that is because i live by my signature.

In my opinion as long as you have a couple of good filters moving the water around nicely you will be fine with two Oscars and a pleco in 125 gallons.
As del says water changes would grow with the fish but keep on top of it and they will be fine.

i got 2 aquaclear 110s and a rena xp3 full of biomax ans sponge in all 3 filters. I do a 50%wc once a week with 2 gravel vacs in between so i should be okay in the maintenance dept(I hope)lol. BTW i know alot of info out there says royal plecos can grow to a foot and` a half but i never saw one even close to that (maybe the biggest one i saw was a foot). Anyone actually see a royal plec that big??

only at monsterfishkeepers.com but not in real life.
and if they grow at a rate most fancy plecos do, it will take them an awfull long time to get even to a foot in lenght.
The commons do grow at a fast rate.

Noddy wrote:


Royals grow quick but they feed on bogwood...and this normally means having yellow tannins in the water from the bogwood...bugger that ill stick with rocks