Temporarily place my L200 with larger L190?

[Nelly]

Hi I have two 200l tanks, yes none are particularly large but they are heavily filtered.

one has a single L190 royal panaque and a few pencil fish in it and the other has an L200 green phantom and a few tiny king tiger plecos. I'm wanting to sell both tanks and move into something larger.

the L190 is much larger than the green phantom and has its own tank with loads of bog wood in. Whist the royal is relatively small comparative to how big they get, its much heavier than the phantom, id say 3x. Could I temporarily put them together whilst I sell one tank, free up the space and get a 400l?. also can they live together harmoniously longer term if there's enough wood and hiding places or do I risk the L200 getting beaten royally. I'd rather not sell some fish if I don't have to, but granted there not perfect tank mates from a diet and territory perspective.

thanks for any advice.

[Jools]

I'd say this would be OK given you've only got the fishes you mention assuming both plecos aren't bigger than about 150-200mm SL. Why not move them and see how it goes for a few weeks before selling the 1st tank? I'd move the bigger fish into the smaller fish's tank to mix up the bigger fish's territory and also loads of wood will help.

Jools

[Nelly]

Hi,

thankyou very much for your response. That's good to know as a principle and I'll give it a shot tomorrow after work. I will also mix the tank up a bit and set it out so that there is more than one "lair" style hideout at either end!

also, I've just measured the royal and its no more than 16-17cm. its just way way thicker set than the phantom which is hiding but its maybe 12cm at a guess! will see how it goes before turning off the second tank. i just need to sell one and have the space it creates to set up something larger. my hands are tied if I've two running in the interim unless i place it somewhere less than optimal for a period.

thanks again

[Nelly]

Dam. it turns out my L190 is a real ass hole, just watching it I wanna tell it off !

The first night they had a huge "thrash" fight - because the phantom went straight into the panaques house...not a good idea but it tried to stand its ground rather than just get out, so ended up with a damaged dorsal fin. After this I moved stuff about and to get them as far apart as possible, which the 200 moved straight into but now the L190 sits on top of the L200's house waiting for it to make sure it doesn't come out, its so pathetic. At food food time it even tries to make sure the L200 doesn't eat. will they get used to each other? should i add more obstacles between them? thanks, id rather persevere than take it out again.