Plants with large Pleco

[Bortass]

Here's the run down. I have a 130 gal tank, 6 ft long and i think 18 inches deep. Lighting is 220 W CFL in a 4 ft fixture. So there are shadows on the far ends of the tank.

The main denizen of the tank is a pleco. It's at least 12 inches long, not counting the tail fins. Over 15 years old now. It can be quite the bulldozer just swimming around.

So I have a deep tank w/ dim lighting and a large fish. Good combo eh?

Any suggestions on plants with a fish like this? I have some fake plants and attached gravel to the base with silicone since they get uprooted. I'm wondering about whether or not I can pot some plants and maybe they don't get uprooted.

I'm gonna try to add some floating plants. I had duckweed in this tank over a year ago but it disappeared. The java fern also made a disappearing act on me.

[Nolapete]

Anubias sp. come potted, don't require much light, and most fish won't even nibble on them. They are very hardy and tolerate a lot of different water conditions.

[Fishfinder]

something i just thought of that might help you would be maybe get actual garden pots, like the small clay ones and break out the bottoms. then bury most of its bottom end into the gravel leaving some of it up to act as a sort of 'fence' around the base 2-3inchs of the plant so that the pleco cant accidentally knock the plant out of the substrate? Might not look to great but should work i think? The plants would have to be like vals or swords or something that grows upwards. Heh... sort of got the idea of how they stop beavers from getting at trees. XD Just a suggestion

[Bortass]

Well I was leaning towards clay garden pots. I don't really have any substrate to hide them in. That may be ok though. I removed the larger gravel for sand over 8 months ago. Problem with the sand was hydrogen sulfide building up. It was too deep and not getting disturbed enough. So I'm been slowly removing sand to make it easier to reduce dead spots. I think I'm down to 1 - 2 inches of sand on average.

I do have a bag of flourite that's been sitting in the trunk of my car for almost a year now. I picked it up when i first thought about trying the clay pot idea. I think I'd want 3 - 4 inch pots, though maybe there's a lower wider type I could use. I'll have to see what I can find at Lowes.

[tennesseemom]

I have a large pleco, too. I made an ugly 3 sided cave out of slate floor tiles, and on top of that I have the plants, and on top of all that, driftwood. So basically the driftwood is holding the plants in place. He also tends to leave planted plants alone that are planted right around the bottom edges of the driftwood. He has done a lot better leaving plants alone after I made him a cave to retreat to. But now I barely see him!

http://www.tennessee-mom.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=13148&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=7e03b8fcad8a6eebfd1a7e4b78088afc

crappy picture, sorry, but you can sort of make out the plants coming out and around the pile of driftwood.

[Bortass]

You know, that's part of my problem. My aquascaping isn't too friendly for the pleco. i remember when it lived in a little cave made out of slate propped in a corner. That was when it was 2 inches long 14 years ago.

Been thinking about a strawberry pot. Those are large and have alot of hole for smaller fish. I figured the clown loaches may like that better then the current stuff they hide in. A strawberry pot is definately big enough for the pleco to hang out in. it tends to hang out in a corner of the tank behind some driftwood and under the bubble wand. He digs up the wand to hide under. But i can easly do the slate floor tiles too. I might make the cave closer to 2 feet long and put it near the back of the tank. Add lips to the top to hold a substrate and I can plant on top of the cave.

Starting to realize how unfriendly the tank may be for some of the inhabitants.

I think I lied on the size though. I think it's closer to 16 inches long. Lol.

Thanks for the ideas. it's helping me think a bit more creatively ;)