Pleco for a 20gal??

[tanker]

Am starting a 20gal for my kids (in the planning stages). It will be a heavily planted tank. Is there a good small pleco?? My kids think they are "cute".

[Kosmik]

clown plecos like mine which is can be seen here:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/337288421/353547977plbZxZ

Stay pretty small. I think only gettin like 5 inches in total length. It is recommended though that they have some driftwood to munch on in the tank since it is a natural part of their diet.

Also Bristlenose plecs stay small and they are supposed to be pretty good algae cleaners.

I think rubberlip plecs stay small too.

[Holly9937]

I would double check the size on the rubberlip, it might be a little small for a bristlenose (recommended 30g) and this site recommends 25 for the clown pleco (even better!). Have you checked out otos? They have that same sucker face look, stay around 2" and like friends so you could keep a little group of them

[thesydmonster]

Don't some of the pekolita spp. stay pretty small? I am not sure if any are small enough for a 20 gallon and I don't think they are good algae eaters (I could be totally wrong on this). I think otos are a great recommendation!

[Mooch28]

How bout a Zebra pleco!

Look amzing, easy to breed, and get no bigger then 3-3.5 inches. However, very difficult to find.


Just take one look, and you will fall in love........

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tjorvar.is/assets/images/zebra_pleco_xxx.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tjorvar.is/html/kattfiskar.html&h=215&w=367&sz=56&tbnid=bZVgiEVEAFoJ:&tbnh=69&tbnw=118&hl=en&start=46&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dzebra%2Bpleco%26start%3D40%26svnum%3D 10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

ok, take another.......

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/Catfish/Zebra3_small.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/Catfish/ZebraInfo.asp&h=70&w=93&sz=5&tbnid=kTblBMteQ9gJ:&tbnh=56&tbnw=75&hl=en&start=53&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dzebra%2Bpleco%26start%3D40%26svnum%3D 10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN



:p:

[Calico Goat]

Rubberlips get to be 7-8"...

[Kosmik]

ignore the suggestion for the rubber lip then. I've never acctually had one but the signs i've read when looking at them said something like 4-5 inches, of course that was pet's mart where i normally only get food for the fish.

[tanker]

I would double check the size on the rubberlip, it might be a little small for a bristlenose (recommended 30g) and this site recommends 25 for the clown pleco (even better!). Have you checked out otos? They have that same sucker face look, stay around 2" and like friends so you could keep a little group of them

I have ottos in my 100gal. My kids think they are too small to see. They want a colorful pleco. The zebra looks good. But like what Mooch28 said, they maybe hard to find.

[CorydorasLover]

I believe the Zebra Pleco doesn't do much for your tank, besides being beautiful.

If you want to have a pleco that actively cleans your tank, then I would suggest to get a clown pleco, or a tiger pleco (I think they stay fairly small too).

I have two bristlenose plecos in my 46G; one of them is about 8 inches and the other is close to 6 inches, so I am not sure if that's what you want in your 20G.