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View Full Version : plecos, friend or foe



Jamie
01-10-2004, 8:24 PM
Hello all,

It has been months since i have posted anything. Life seems to have been put on hold for me for the time being. Unfortunately, my tank isn't really getting the attention it needs. It is lightly planted at the moment. I hate to admit it but the few plant "survivors" in my tank are java fern, some anubias varieties, and bacopa carolina. I actuallly intend on sticking with the anubias, and getting some more...they have become a personal favorite....low maint. and very pretty, can't beat that. Anyway, back to my post, Algae isn't really a problem any more, less the muck that grows on the glass and gets wiped off every week. I am considering getting a a fish or two from the pleco family to help with the cleaning. I know that they are notorious plant eaters and was wondering if anyone has had experience with plecos eating my surviving plant types. Anubias and java fern are recommended for cichlid tanks....maybe they could withstand a pleco or two??? Any input is greatly appreciated....Thanks.

promethean_sprk
01-10-2004, 9:10 PM
I've got a candy stripe pleco which doesn't damage my plants. I also had a rubber lip pleco for about a year that didn't hurt anything. The candy stripe pleco is a wierd fish. It started out looking like a normalish pleco, but now it is really fat and looks like a half golf ball with a little tail at one end. I don't think it eats all that much algae though, and it hides alot.

yhbae
01-11-2004, 1:07 AM
I have 4 bristlenose pl*cos and they don't seem to touch my plants at all... Well they do eat algae on the plants but my leaves are not damaged...

What helped the most for me at the end for controlling algae was to reduce the time in which light was on.