growth rate of a pleco

My first pleco went from 1.5" to 6.5 inches in 2 years...

saying that giving them a small pace to live in will hinder there growth is utter BS. But giving them sufficent room, water chemistry, and good food helps them grow at remarkable rates in the span of a year.

I bought 2, more or less identical plecos on the same day. One went into a 29Gal and one went into a 120Gal. The 29Gal Pleco is now a little bigger than the day I bought them (few months ago)... but the one in the 120Gal... is at least double his original size. I understand that my observastions aren't scientific... but they way I figure it, the more resources given the quicker and larger the fish will grow. I'm sure there are more nutrients, more light, more hiding spaces, more forgiving of mistakes, etc in the 120Gal... and hence the bigger pleco. That is probably where the "myth" comes from... because for most people it is easier to supply the extras in the bigger tank, they assume that the tank size is what made the difference. I'm sure if you are an expert you could grow a huge fish in a teacup. -My 2 Cents

I tend to agree with the observations of FishGuy72. I've had similar experiences - and not just with plecs. My littlest guy pretty much went from 2 inches to 7 inches in 5 months in new the 55G. I saw him yesterday for the first time in one fortnight and nearly feel over at his size!

wow...i wish my pleco would grow freakin huge, o well. hell just have to stay in 55 gal.

well my cousins pleco grew from about 1 inch, to about 7 in under a year in a 100g. currectly it is a little over a foot and is over 2 years old.
he did frequent water changes at the start, maybe this is hte key

how often and how much did you cousin feed his pleco

I agree the food is a big issue but I do believe the environment has a lot to do with it. We had a 10g tank when I was growing up. Among some of the other fish we had a 3" redtail shark, a 4" pleco and a couple 4" catfish my brother caught as babies in a pond. We had them in our tank for at least a year when my parents got tired of cleaning the tank and thought the catfish had gotten too big anyway. We had a goldfish pond in our backyard that my parents allowed us to put those fish into when we took the tank apart. Within a few months the catfish had spawned and we had hundreds of baby catfish all over the pond (how'd we get so lucky to get one male and one female?). Anyway, we had to drain the pond to get rid of them (they were plugging the filter system). We had never seen the redtail or pleco and figured they'd died in the different water conditions. Low and behold while cleaning the tank out we found about a 6-7" redtail and an 8" pleco. We ended up giving them to a friend with a large tank. I may be wrong but I still believe the bigger the environment, the bigger the fish. Another example is the goldfish. common goldfish rarely grow very large in a small bowl or tank but introduced into a fishpond, they get 6+ inches. in my experiences anyway. Kyle

I agree! Size of the tank and fish load greatly affect fish size.
I have a heavily loaded 58 gal tank and in two years my pleco went from about 2 in to 9 in.

I have a couple mollies that were born and they have stayed under an inch for 6 mo. Same with a couple swords. I know fish release a growth inhibitor hormone too, that can affect fish growth / size. More frequent tank changes wil hepl increase growth rate....

This is my first post! Yeah! I hope it works!