Pelcos- Do they out grow tanks?

Hi,

I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
after 20 years.

I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
of college.

So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
experts here. Anyway:

Question #1:

I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.

The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.

I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
their environment.

Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?

Cheers,

Trev

--
Trevor Stenson

http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html

"Trevor Stenson" wrote in message
news:kitschy-B53914.01061915042006@shawnews...
Hi,

I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
after 20 years.

I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
of college.

So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
experts here. Anyway:

Question #1:

I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.

The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.

I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
their environment.

Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?

Cheers,

Trev

--
Trevor Stenson


Yes, he will outgrow the tank and yes he will produce far more waste than
you want to deal with in there..
The rainbow shark will also prob get a bit aggro.

"swarvegorilla" wrote in message
...

"Trevor Stenson" wrote in message
news:kitschy-B53914.01061915042006@shawnews...
Hi,

I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
after 20 years.

I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
of college.

So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
experts here. Anyway:

Question #1:

I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.

The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.

I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
their environment.

Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?

Cheers,

Trev

--
Trevor Stenson


Yes, he will outgrow the tank and yes he will produce far more waste than
you want to deal with in there..
The rainbow shark will also prob get a bit aggro.


you got some time, but yes he will out grow that tank, mine is in a 39 gl
and I have had him for a while, so I would not worry yet, but its best if
they have room as they get bigger, I think its about a foot they grow to
maybe a little more, you said he was a common pl*co right? One more thing
someone said about the poop, just use a vacuum, it is usually strung all
over the tank or in a place where they spend there time, just vacuum or net
the poop and it should not cause to much problem, they help more then hurt.
Nik

The rainbow shark will also prob get a bit aggro.


you got some time, but yes he will out grow that tank, mine is in a 39 gl
and I have had him for a while, so I would not worry yet, but its best if
they have room as they get bigger, I think its about a foot they grow to
maybe a little more, you said he was a common pl*co right? One more thing
someone said about the poop, just use a vacuum, it is usually strung all
over the tank or in a place where they spend there time, just vacuum or net
the poop and it should not cause to much problem, they help more then hurt.
Nik

Yes a common Pleco I believe.

Thanks all for the advice. Yes the shark has gotten somewhat big as
well and a bit feisty, but has doesn't bother any of the fish I have now
too much - as in distressing them or hurting them. I have tones of
hiding spaces (cave and plants as well). He is alsolutely the alpha
fish, although the Betta pair keep him in-line.

I do know that he won't tolerate any small or pesky fish (tetras), or
anymore crowding - my tank is at its limit and is relatively placid as
is, especially considering my choice of fish.

Odd (with the shark) as I expected, naively, that he would behave like
the red-tailed shark I had as a youth: that one didn't grow very large
and was extremely gentle.

I'd never want to flush a healthy live fish, and since I have no friends
with aquariums, I'll probably see if my favorite fish specialty store
will adopt the Pleco if/when he gets to big for the tank.

Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into Godzilla?

That is what I'll go for next time if I have to put the Pleco up for
adoption.

Thanks again,

Trev

--
Trevor Stenson

http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html

Trevor Stenson wrote:
The rainbow shark will also prob get a bit aggro.



you got some time, but yes he will out grow that tank, mine is in a 39 gl
and I have had him for a while, so I would not worry yet, but its best if
they have room as they get bigger, I think its about a foot they grow to
maybe a little more, you said he was a common pl*co right? One more thing
someone said about the poop, just use a vacuum, it is usually strung all
over the tank or in a place where they spend there time, just vacuum or net
the poop and it should not cause to much problem, they help more then hurt.
Nik


Yes a common Pleco I believe.

Thanks all for the advice. Yes the shark has gotten somewhat big as
well and a bit feisty, but has doesn't bother any of the fish I have now
too much - as in distressing them or hurting them. I have tones of
hiding spaces (cave and plants as well). He is alsolutely the alpha
fish, although the Betta pair keep him in-line.

I do know that he won't tolerate any small or pesky fish (tetras), or
anymore crowding - my tank is at its limit and is relatively placid as
is, especially considering my choice of fish.

Odd (with the shark) as I expected, naively, that he would behave like
the red-tailed shark I had as a youth: that one didn't grow very large
and was extremely gentle.

I'd never want to flush a healthy live fish, and since I have no friends
with aquariums, I'll probably see if my favorite fish specialty store
will adopt the Pleco if/when he gets to big for the tank.

Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into Godzilla?

That is what I'll go for next time if I have to put the Pleco up for
adoption.

Thanks again,

Trev


If you are keen on plecs you could go for one of the smaller ones - I
have a Queen Arabesque and a Snowball (can't remember their L numbers).
They cost quite a bit more but don't grow so big...One of our regular
posters, Koi-Lo, has Clown Plecs I believe - again they do not grow so
large...and are cheaper than the two that I have.

Other alternatives for algae eaters off the top of my head, would be,
Otos, SAE's (Siamese Algae Eaters), lyre tail mollies (sp).....I'm sure
others can add to this list...

Gill

On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 14:44:47 GMT, Trevor Stenson
wrote:
Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into Godzilla?

Bristle nose pl*co AKA Bushy nose pl*co AKA Ancistrus catfish - an
excellent algae eater - grows to about 4 or 5 inches max. As with his
brethren and sistren loricarids, needs hidey holes and wood to chew
on. Some will feed and cruise in the daytime, but my experience has
been that they do most of their stepping out at night, after lights
out. Also make sure he gets some veggies as he will run out of algae
pretty quickly. I drop algae food discs into my ancistrus containing
tanks after the lights go out, the discs are always gone in the
morning. A 3 page article in the FAMA that just hit the newsstands
this week features the bushy nose - it's buried way back near the
classifieds. Perhaps the author wanted to hide it because he was
embarrassed - I would have hidden it for sure if I had written such a
shallow article, but it's a nice intro, I suppose. If you introduce
more than one of the suckermouth catfish to your tank, make sure that
each has his or her own hidey hole and wood.

-- Mister Gardener

Everything Aquaria & Tropical Fish at The Krib:
http://www.thekrib.com/

"TS" == Trevor Stenson writes:


TS Yes a common Pleco I believe.

I think many people call a sailfin pleco a common pleco. If you have a
sailfin pleco, they can get quite large. I've seen them that where 18"
long.

TS Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into
TS Godzilla?

Bristlenose plecos only get 4" long. And I hear they really devastate
algae.

In article ,
Dale Henderson wrote:

"TS" == Trevor Stenson writes:


TS Yes a common Pleco I believe.

I think many people call a sailfin pleco a common pleco. If you have a
sailfin pleco, they can get quite large. I've seen them that where 18"
long.

TS Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into
TS Godzilla?

Bristlenose plecos only get 4" long. And I hear they really devastate
algae.

Hi thanks for all the fish suggestions everyone.

As to your specific question.

I bought him a small common pleco at a chain store, which actually isn't
bad at keeping fish and has a large selection. The told me it was a
common pleco but I remember commenting that they certainly were small!
The lady said she ordered them and they came in that way looking more on
the medium size (almost and inch with tail but not really fat yet).

I shop at an aquarium/fish only store now.

Anyway, the web is confusing on this. Some of the pictures are much
more plain with small fins. That is not my guy and is listed as
Hypostomus plecostomus (the store didn't have the Latin name). Others
look a lot like my fish but maybe these sites are mistaken. I
originally put down H. plecostomus in my database as the fishes ID.


However, some, but not all, of the pictures of the Sailfin Pleco
(Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) do indeed look quite a lot like my pleco.
More so than the plain picutres of H. plecostomus.

Pictures of the Gibby and White Spotted Sailfin Plecos do indeed look
like my fish. So there is a chance that a Sailfin was unwittingly sold
and bought. And I'm taking it that this one of the large growth plecos.

I originally knew that the fish could grow up to 18", I discovered this
when I investigated it further on bring it home, but I thought that
would take up to 10 years. Mine just is growing faster than expected.
Where I found this info also showed a picture of a fish that looks like
mine (so is that a H. pleco or a Sailfin?).

I'll try to get a better look at mine next time he is out, but he often
hides from the light.

Also I tried algae pellets at first. They resulted in an algae bloom
but maybe I was adding them too often (once a day). I stopped, then I
got regular algae from all my plants. Then the Pleco went to work and
all the algae disappeared, and my Pleco grew and grew and...he seems
fine just on the normal plants and algae for now. The is no wood
(unless petrified) and I feed him no special food since the pellets but
if need be I can reintroduce other food at some point.

Thanks,
Trev

--
Trevor Stenson

http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html

Trevor Stenson wrote:

I bought him a small common pleco at a chain store, which actually isn't
bad at keeping fish and has a large selection. The told me it was a
common pleco but I remember commenting that they certainly were small!
The lady said she ordered them and they came in that way looking more on
the medium size (almost and inch with tail but not really fat yet).

I shop at an aquarium/fish only store now.

Anyway, the web is confusing on this. Some of the pictures are much
more plain with small fins. That is not my guy and is listed as
Hypostomus plecostomus (the store didn't have the Latin name). Others
look a lot like my fish but maybe these sites are mistaken. I
originally put down H. plecostomus in my database as the fishes ID.


However, some, but not all, of the pictures of the Sailfin Pleco
(Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) do indeed look quite a lot like my pleco.
More so than the plain picutres of H. plecostomus.

Pictures of the Gibby and White Spotted Sailfin Plecos do indeed look
like my fish. So there is a chance that a Sailfin was unwittingly sold
and bought. And I'm taking it that this one of the large growth plecos.

Gibbies are often sold as "common plecos". Mislabeling is rampant at
the big chains. Big gibbies are gorgeous fish. To tell a little gibbie
from a common pleco, look for the spotted patterning on the fin and
back. Gibbies also have a large dorsal that's given them the name of
sailfin.

I originally knew that the fish could grow up to 18", I discovered this
when I investigated it further on bring it home, but I thought that
would take up to 10 years. Mine just is growing faster than expected.
Where I found this info also showed a picture of a fish that looks like
mine (so is that a H. pleco or a Sailfin?).

Heh. Fish grow to their natural size, and they do it pretty fast if
you're feeding well. Gibbies need at least a 55 gallon tank, and 70 is
better since it's 18" front to back.

I'll try to get a better look at mine next time he is out, but he often
hides from the light.

Also I tried algae pellets at first. They resulted in an algae bloom
but maybe I was adding them too often (once a day). I stopped, then I
got regular algae from all my plants. Then the Pleco went to work and
all the algae disappeared, and my Pleco grew and grew and...he seems
fine just on the normal plants and algae for now. The is no wood
(unless petrified) and I feed him no special food since the pellets but
if need be I can reintroduce other food at some point.

Plecos need a *lot* of food. Small ones eat a lot of vegetable matter
so offer slices of cucumber, blanched zucchini, or romaine lettuce along
with the algae wafers. Remove any veggies after 24 hours.

As they grow, common plecs and gibbies start looking for meatier foods.
Shrimp pellets, sinking wafers, worms, or anything that hits the bottom.

--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

"Trevor Stenson" wrote in message
news:kitschy-B53914.01061915042006@shawnews...
I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
large girth. Will he outgrow the tank?

YES! The pet shops wont always tell you these fish can reach 18" long.
You'd be better off with a clown pleco. They only reach 6" long and grow
slowly.

He is quite nocturnal, and
somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
their environment.

That's an old wives tale.

Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?

Picture him when he reaches 15 to 18" long........
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
rec.pond's FAQ are at: http://www.geocities.com/justinm090/faq.html
Aquarium FAQ are at: http://faq.thekrib.com/
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o