plecos

[greenman909]

is it safe to have more than 1 pleco in a 55gal tank??????

[greenman909]

I keep getting mixed views arrrrrg!!!!!!

[greenman909]

I already have a basic pleco from the local pet shop and i was thinking about ordering a goldnugget pleco

[jones57742]

Gm:

1) what is a basic Pleco?

2) I have kept 6 GN's and 6 Queens in a 110G community tank with very little commotion. (I only observed one hassle: this was between two GN's "discussing" who was to reside in a nice rock hole)

TR

[greenman909]

i guess not a basic but the most common pleco, but the most common sold at petsmart and petco stores its a dark with a lepord design on there bodys.... also thanks for the feed back im prob going to get a gold nugget and then a sunshine after that p.s. my pleco always kicks the chiclids out of the rock cave lol

[Danh]

You'll be ok for a little while, but the common pleco will get pretty big and definitely outgrow the 55g. I'm not sure how big gn get.

Also remember they are very messy fish and carry a big bio load with them.

[Baby_Baby]

Plecos (common ones, anyway) get pretty big, like oh I dont know, over a foot long :O
Pretty scary stuff.
And the fact that they're doo doo machines only adds to the neverending horror.
He should be alright for a little while, but not in the long run. I'd return him and start a search for plecos that dont exceed 6 inches.

[Fishfirst]

definately return him... your small juvi common pleco can become a 2 foot poop machine horror in no time. I would suggest bristlenose plecos, rubberlip plecos, clown plecos, or some similar dwarf pleco species.

[JustOneMore20]

Gold nugget plecos can be sensitive to water quality. How long has your tank been setup and how often do you do water changes?

I'd definitely take the common pleco back. Like said above, they will outgrow your tank.

Gold nugget plecos, assuming you get L081 and not L018, will only get around 7 inches, which is much better for your 55g than a common.

[lohachata]

common plecos can excede 3 feet in length.and ,yes,L-18 gold nuggets can be pretty sensitive to conditions. but i have kept many different species of plecos together in a tank.actually had about 10 or 12 species in a 150 wide with a bunch of other fish.from little 270's to a 10" royal shampupa and a bunch inbetween.never had a problem.

[jones57742]

Folks:

Originally Posted by JustOneMore20

Gold nugget plecos can be sensitive to water quality.

Yes: but they are but based on my experience not as sensitive a SAE's and Yoyo loaches.
In addition, based on my experience, none of the above cited fish are as sensitive as Queen Pleco's (some folks have not observed this condition).

Folks and JOM:

Originally Posted by JustOneMore20

Gold nugget plecos, assuming you get L081 and not L018, will only get around 7 inches, which is much better for your 55g than a common.

This one is virtually unbelievable but circa March 2005 PC was publishing the maximum size of L018's to be approximately 6".
I do not know when PC changed the maximum size to 14" but I first noted it in July of this year.
IMHO the fish(s) on which the 14" published length are based were on serious steroids.
Mine went from approximately 1.5" to 3" in 6 months, from 3" to 5" in the subsequent year but thereafter growth was virtually unmeasurable.

TR

[GoodMike]

simply put, in a 55 gallon tank, no you cant do that.

GN's are...sensitive, and most people kill them due to 1 reason. heat. THEY LIKE IT WARM! IMO 78 is not good enough, 80 is not good enough, 82 is better, 84 is best. yes, 84 degrees. they dont do alot of algae eating, so they need a meaty diet, a good mix is a mix of sinking pellets (i like New Life Spectrum), blood worms, blackworms.

GN's are not for a beginner, no offense or nothing. pristine conditions are a big help here. GN's are more sensitive than SAE's and yoyo loaches, its just you deal with a much larger quantity of the other 2, so it can seem like you are losing more. but % wise, you dont.

[jones57742]

GM:

This dialog is good!

Originally Posted by GoodMike

GN's are...sensitive, and most people kill them due to 1 reason. heat. THEY LIKE IT WARM! IMO 78 is not good enough, 80 is not good enough, 82 is better, 84 is best. yes, 84 degrees.

The above is true!
BUT
they will not only survive but grow significantly and breed at 78F (been there, done that and got the tee shirt but in a community tank no joy on fry.)

Originally Posted by GoodMike

.. they dont do alot of algae eating...

When juvies mine could be observed frequently on the tank walls "sucking up algae" but as adults I very, very frequently observed this behavior.

Originally Posted by GoodMike

... so they need a meaty diet, a good mix is a mix of sinking pellets (i like New Life Spectrum), blood worms, blackworms.

Absolutely: I fed the above except that the sinking pellets were Wardley's Shrimp Pellets Formula.
I principally fed my various meaty and veggie mixtures.

Originally Posted by GoodMike

GN's are more sensitive than SAE's and yoyo loaches, its just you deal with a much larger quantity of the other 2, so it can seem like you are losing more. but % wise, you dont.

GM: this is the only one that really disagree on: the GN's were "doing their regular thing" when the SAE's were sedentary and the Yoyo's were not only sedentary but also exhibiting "light red" on their lips as well as a "light red" on their caudal fins.

TR

[gemjunkie]

Originally Posted by jones57742

GM:

This dialog is good!


The above is true!
BUT
they will not only survive but grow significantly and breed at 78F (been there, done that and got the tee shirt but in a community tank no joy on fry.)


When juvies mine could be observed frequently on the tank walls "sucking up algae" but as adults I very, very frequently observed this behavior.


Absolutely: I fed the above except that the sinking pellets were Wardley's Shrimp Pellets Formula.
I principally fed my various meaty and veggie mixtures.



GM: this is the only one that really disagree on: the GN's were "doing their regular thing" when the SAE's were sedentary and the Yoyo's were not only sedentary but also exhibiting "light red" on their lips as well as a "light red" on their caudal fins.

TR

Jones, you'd better have pictures to back that breeding thing up because I only know of ONE person that's bred those and his name is Kevin.. Those fish need WARM temperatures, UPPER 80s. They are carnivores as well, now I suppose you're going to tell me that they spawned on a vegie diet?
PLEASE......

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by gemjunkie

Jones, you'd better have pictures to back that breeding thing up

Gj:

I feel like Rodney Dangerfield here (probably for very valid reasons).

If I would have ever anticipated this question I would have taken some.

I did observe the male "digging the 'holes'" and the interaction of the male and one of the females.
Although and as set forth in my post
No joy on fry in a community tank @ 78F.

Originally Posted by gemjunkie

They are carnivores as well, now I suppose you're going to tell me that they spawned on a vegie diet? PLEASE......

Wish I could but I cannot.
Their typical diet was my homemade recipes supplemented with frozen brine shrimp, etc. and every few days I would feed TetraMin flakes at one feeding.
Please refer to the following for my homemade recipes:
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/fyi-...xas-style.html

Gj:

I believe that part of the disconnect here is that my community tank is rather atypical.

Mechanical Filtration
Typically once a week I induce a fine filtration laminate into the filtration process.
Please refer to the photographs and monologue at Post #3 in
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/fyi-...xas-style.html

Biological Filtration
The water from the tank passed through several cubic feet of feet of bioballs:
Then through approximately 1/2 of a cubic foot of ceramic toroids and approximately 1/2 cubic foot of ceramic cylinders placed in parallel under the bioballs and then
through approximately 1/2 cubic foot of sintered glass place along the underflow from the 1st chamber to the 2nd chamber of my sump.

Water Changes
I typically accomplish 10% daily WC's with RO water (which is plumbed into my sump the water surface of which is controlled by a float "shut off" on the RO line).

Currents in the Tank
The return water from my sump produces approximately a 9X hourly turnover rate and "most folks" would consider my tank to be understocked based on this turnover rate through a wet/dry.
The return water is discharged into the tank via four jets.
One of the jets I use to create surface turbulence.
The other three are used (in part) to create currents in portions of the bottom of the tank.

TR

[hacket]

If you are talking about having a problem with aggression, you shouldn't have a problem as I haven't ever. I usually had a couple in a tank at a time until they out-grew their tank, which they will in a 55-gallon. But I usually just sold them back to the store I bought them at and just got a couple smaller ones.