Wow! That is one huge cichlid! I do have a pleco in the hall pond with the cichlids, he's gotten really huge now. When I go and read the cichlid forums they say that the fish fight all the time and will kill each other plus I read that they will take the eyes out of a pleco. Gross! However, no fights in my pond and the pleco seems to not be bothered by them at all. He turns upside down and sucks their food from the surface when I feed them. He's at least a foot long now. I think maybe I don't have WW3 in there because there is so much room and they grew up together. The pond is 17' long and about 2.5' wide by 3' deep. I have some big limestone rocks and some old wood in there and a skimmer. I feed them cichlid flakes and sliced zucchini.
I got the Angel fish for the outside pond because the Mollies were breeding so much. The Angels do eat some of the newly born Mollies and there seems to be a balance in there now. The Angels were about an inch tall when I got them and are about 5" tall now. They have paired up and I think the two that I found dead in the early days were probably from battles over mates. Another reason not to add any more, I couldn't tell what gender they are or whether they would get along.
I can't even contemplate the different challenges to living in Alaska. It kind of fascinates me in a scary way, I've never lived where it snows at all. I think it is too late for that kind of challenge now, I get really cold and out of sorts if the temps get below 70°F these days.
