can a common pleco go with african cichlids?

So, my roommate has a common pleco in her ten gallon tank that she was told by the store employees would only grow to the size of her tank and wouldn't be more than probably 4 inches. I tried to tell her this was not necessarily true. She didn't listen, but now that he is already 4 inches and seems to be still growing, she believes me:wall:.

I just got a 60 gallon tank for Christmas that I was planning to put some of the less aggressive african cichlids in and was wondering if he would be able to survive in that tank. I have read that bristlenose plecos do fairly well but I was not sure about the common plecos. Would he be able to tolerate the hardness of the water (the tank has crushed coral and shells, aragonite cichlid sand, and shells for substrate, as well as previously live rock) I don't want him to get eaten or to be unable to live in these conditions. If he can't go in the 60, I will at least put him in my 20 gallon for him to have a little more room, even though I know it is not ideal.

---sorry for the rambling, but I just wanted to get everyone's advice about this before I do anything that would be unhealthy for this fish

jpappy789 said:

maybe the best aklternative is to sell or return if possible

otherwise the pleco should be able to tolerate the water chemistry if aclimated carefully. aggression is another issue though as it is hard to predict what will happen...sometimes it works other times its fatal.

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my roommate is pretty adamant about not returning it...she is not really that much into the fish keeping hobby and doesn't feel the need to maintain her tanks as well as she should...she didn't really research before she got her fish and figures if they are still alive it is fine. Since he isn't my fish there isn't much I can do about it besides try to give him a little more room.

wataugachicken said:

aside from water chemistry and the fact that the pleco won't really be able to live in the 50g long term either, african cichlids have a tendency to pluck the eyeballs out of their pleco tankmates - that's the only unprotected part of the fish.

If i were you, i would be like, "hey, look at the pleco, it looks kinda sick (make something up). Do that for a few days "hmmm looks like it's getting worse. . . . " then when she is gone (preferably for a couple days), take it to a store and trade it in or just give it to them. When she comes back, tell her it died and started to smell so you had to throw it away. Lies? Absolutely. Lying for the greater good? That too.

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i don't know if I can do that...but i will keep trying to convince her at least to think about giving him back...i was really hoping the new tank would work for at least awhile...but i guess i better start doing some fancy talkin' to get her to give him up

johnlarson66 said:

If you have no chance of returning it, then the best bet is to put it in a larger tank. I think if you had plenty of rock work and hiding places then a large pleco would do just fine with an african cichlids. Mine does. I also have a couple of gold nuggets in there.

My understanding is that there is really no tank large enough for a common pleco and keeping them will only stunt their growth.

So, if you can't return it, then keep it in the largest tank possible.

I am now leaning more towards the bristle nose plecos, but until this website, I never knew about them.

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okay thank you for your advice...that is what i will do unless i can convince her to return it...and there is a bunch of rockwork for the pleco to hide in the tank. I will just keep an eye on him and watch for too much aggression from the cichlids