pleco per gallon rule?
 

Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

Do you think I should get another pleco or some other fish to help
clean up? My only complaint with the pleco is they tend to get prety
big over a couple years.

"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...
Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

AFAIK Corys like to be in groups of four upwards, so maybe more Corys ?

I have 2 Bronze, 1 Albino, and 4 Elegant.

Peter

"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...
Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

Do you think I should get another pleco or some other fish to help
clean up? My only complaint with the pleco is they tend to get prety
big over a couple years.


Plecos, Oscars and Goldfish generally follow the 3g per inch guideline,
with more specific minimums on tank sizes. For example a 6" Pleco would
account for about 18 fish inches, but could not fit in an 18g tank. Be
sure to augment your Pleco's diet with periodic feeding of algae wafers
and fresh veggies (I use zucchini a lot). While Plecos are commonly kept
singly (territorial), Corys are shoaling fish and kept in groups, 5 to 7
is quite typical. For smaller Plecos, look into Bushynose or Bristlenose
Plecos. I currently have one just over 3" long maintaining a 66g
adequately. The garden variety "Hypostomous" type Pleco can top 20". I
had one at around 12" (he was called Batman) and I've seen them at about
14", so yeah, they tend to get pretty big ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

spiral_72 wrote:
Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

Do you think I should get another pleco or some other fish to help
clean up? My only complaint with the pleco is they tend to get prety
big over a couple years.

Just what are you trying to clean up? Nothing eats fish poop except
bacteria if that's the "stuff you'd rather not talk about". Plecos sure
don't. In fact, they generate it in rather large quantities. If you're
trying to clean up nuisance algae, post more details and maybe we can
make some suggestions.

A 6" pleco should do a fine job on green algae, plants, and fish food in
a 55g tank and probably needs some supplimental food as well. Blanched
romaine lettuce in a clip, sinking algae wafers, or cucumber
rubber-banded to a rock are all appreciated by plecos.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__

Depends on the Pleco. A common pleco 12" long is way too big for a 55 if
you are trying to have plants. My experience is that 6" common plecos are
too big big for my 55. My problem is I can grom a 2.5-incher to 7 inches in
a matter of months.

However, I am seriously thinking of rescuing small plecos from Walmart and
keeping them till they turn into bulldozers then passing them on to my LFs
that has a big tank with a whole schoool of big bruisers in a bare bottom
tank.

The best glass cleaners I've had, better than any of the other breeds I've
had. Rough on plants when they get big.

Bob
"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...
Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

Do you think I should get another pleco or some other fish to help
clean up? My only complaint with the pleco is they tend to get prety
big over a couple years.

On 1 Feb 2005 08:18:39 -0800, "spiral_72" wrote:

Do any of you use pleco's?

Is there like a pleco per gallon rule or something?

For bottom feeders I have two Cory's and one 6" pleco in a 55g tank.
The Cory's only eat food off the bottom and the pleco just hangs out
HA! making short work of diatoms(SP?), a little algae and some stuff
I'd rather not talk about.

Do you think I should get another pleco or some other fish to help
clean up? My only complaint with the pleco is they tend to get prety
big over a couple years.

I have 3 plecos in a 75 gallon tank and one in a 29 gallon tank. All
are fine after 2 years. I did put 1 pleco in each of 2 10 gallon
tanks, but neither lived. The four eat the same flake food I put in
the tank for the other fish. The plecos are now about 4 inches. They
are everywhere during the day, plant leaves, glass, gravel, ornaments,
they keep the algae down except for small green dots on the glass.

I wish I could have had them survive in my 10 gallon tanks, but in one
10 gal small snails keep the glass clean, the other has no snails
(probably due to there being two Clown Loaches in the tank) and I have
some algae problems.

I really like plecos, they look so prehistoric! Like the Clowns they
are helpful critters as well as interesting.


I think you are right to ask about a rule. I don't have one but I
have lost plecos in 10 gallon tanks and I did have 2 in a 29 gallon
tank and one died. Not enough nutriention for 2, I don't know, but I
see the wisdom in your question.

dick

I thought about getting one of those... but don't they need to have
driftwood as well?

Mar
---------
Vet Tech student

"TYNK 7" wrote in message
...
I stopped growing them for my LFS years ago, hehe.
I now keep a Rubber Lipped Pleco. They stay pretty small and do a
wonderful job
on algae. Betta than any common Pleco I have ever had.
So may I suggest instead of growing them for your LFS, why not chose a
Rubber
Lip next time. By the way....their "lips" are so funny when they're
rasping on
the glass.
I named mine "Bubba", as it looks like he's singing .....
Buh buh ba buh ba buh ba as he goes along.

Mine have grown to about 10 inches in 8 months.
They WILL eat almost every plant in the aquarium
if I don't use plenty of algae discs.

They do prefer some driftwood, I think they suck
the wood for the tannin, but really need places to
hide more than the driftwood it's self

--


Dr5000

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"Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm
halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God....
I could be eating a slow learner."
* Lynda Montgomery


_______________________
"MarAzul" wrote in message
news:%7cMd.27559$xt.4646@fed1read07...
I thought about getting one of those... but don't they need to have
driftwood as well?

Mar
---------
Vet Tech student

"TYNK 7" wrote in message
...
I stopped growing them for my LFS years ago, hehe.
I now keep a Rubber Lipped Pleco. They stay pretty small and do a
wonderful job
on algae. Betta than any common Pleco I have ever had.
So may I suggest instead of growing them for your LFS, why not chose a
Rubber
Lip next time. By the way....their "lips" are so funny when they're
rasping on
the glass.
I named mine "Bubba", as it looks like he's singing .....
Buh buh ba buh ba buh ba as he goes along.