[lohachata]

angel....contrary to some beliefs , fish do not eat fish waste....
plecos are mostly solitary creatures so i doubt they get lonely or have any need for a friend to be happy...
i agree that it needs to be moved to a larger tank...i am not sure exactly what species it is but there are a few we can rule out...
commons do grow fast.....if one has a common pleco that is 5 years old and only 6 or 8 inches long then it is severely stunted....i bought a couple of tanks from a guy..with them came fish..2 of them were 3" common plecos....within a year they were almost 10"at 2 years they were 18"...that is when i sold them to a coworker who put them in a 240 gallon tank...i wonder how big they are now...lol
not all plecos are fast growing...most of the hypancistris and peckoltia do not reach fuul size until they are 5 or 6 years old...and most of them stay pretty small...6" or less...