How many plecos is to many?

Most pleco's are shy, or nocturnal. You can have too many--keep in mind that most will want a cave or niche they can tuck into fully, and they can fight for territory. You also have to take into account that those that are primarily herbivores will produce massive amounts of waste, meaning good filtration and frequent water changes are a must. Mixing plecos with different food needs will give you a few more options, but not many. Currently, my coolwater 55 has too many bottom dwellers--3 whiptails, 3 cories, a weather loach, a miscellaneous ancistrus, a large chocolate, and 5 or 6 otos. The oto's don't really spend much time on the bottom, but every one else does. So, I have lots of caves for them to hide in. The whiptails don't hide, and are probably the most socialable--they are always out, and are very tolerant of me--I can pick them up and move the around. They aren't very active though, spending most of their time hanging out in one spot.

I also have a butterfly pulcher in another tank (not sure if this is the same fish--common names tend to vary widely). He is by far one of the most shy--comes out for feeding, and then darts back into his cave. Gorgeous fish--great colors, cool shape, but seldom seen.

In terms of comfort--I think having lots of hiding places and less competition helps make them more comfortable. All my tanks are planted, with medium to high light, so I try to provide them with shaded areas, as well. This has increased the time my ancistrus spend out--but they tend to be more active fish anyway. Wood in important for many species as well-I have piles in all my tanks with loricaids.

Plecos are a fish olny a mother could love.

Mine likes low light and will come out of hiding in the afernoon at times on a dull day. If its sunny, you won't see him, too bright in my kitchen I guess.
The tank is not in sunshine, but I guess he senses the room is bright.
If my stove hood light is on at night, he comes out, but if you cast a shadow near the tank or walk by and he feels the vibration, he's gone.

I think a planted tank, is nice for them, an if you keep it bright and he gets acclimatized to the brightness, with time, you see them more. I keep some open areas near my piece of mopani wood, just so the hiders (my black knife ghost) are forced to come out and show themselves at times. And I only put the food in a place where they have to come out to get it.

I read some people have plecos that free swim without fear, I suppose there are exceptions.


(Just thinking about the size thing: Some are only 5 or so inches max. Others up to 2-ft or so. I would suppose you have to consider growth size/space ratio. I saw a snowball pleco, and thought how nice he'd be in a theme tank with my Black Ghost. I like the plecos as accent pieces in the aquarium ...hehehe)

I like to have lots

active plecos

I have three plecos in a 37 gal tank, a 4" high-fin butterfly, a 4" gold, and a 2"clown. The clown has become much more active since I've put in some driftwood in the tank, and I'm convinced the other two think they're some other kind of fish, because they swim around the tank just like my tiger barbs. They used to be shy, but I started feeding them with the lights on, and they seem to have gotten used to being active during the day. They do produce lots of waste, so I do frequent water changes and keep a fairly strong current in the tank with powerhead. Hope that helps

Saltydog,

it appears that Haggis man has an ancistrus, albino ancisturs, L-18, L-66, L-47,L-114 and a couple of other fish. Those particular plecos will not take up much space and will not grow too big. I have similar combinations from 20-55Gal.

Common plecos will get between 1-2 feet long in some regular home tanks but generally will be restricted by the size of the tank.Most common plecos and sailfin plecos will max out a bit over 12" but can get substantiallly larger.


I have a number of different kinds and would say that you can pick out a fairly good variety to stay under 4-5" so you could put 8-12 of them in a tank of 40gal and up. JUst don't try putting 6 common or saisfins in a 55.

The tank in that pic is a 40gal, the only pl*co in there just now that will get too big for my tank is the royal and he is pretty small at the mo, I have moved the scribbles and cactus into my 80gal now.

I currently have split between my 80 and 40

L047 Mango
L177 Gold Nugget
L007 Vampire
L066 Scribble(x2)
L270 Chocolate Zebra
Prince Tiger Peckoltia sp
L190 Dull Eyed Royal
L104 Clown(x2)
Red Fin Dwarf
Common Bristlenose(x5)
L114 Leopard Cactus
4 Ottocinclus
2 Hisonotus leucofrenatus(like ottos but smaller)

So I like pl*cos.....