I don't know what the normal growth rate for pleco's is, so I'm not sure what to suggest. I had one that I purchased when it was about 2 inches and within 1 1/2 years it was about 7-8 inches. As for food I just feed the hikari algae tablets.
Growth rate depends on a wide variety of factors, including diet, habitat, and temperature. Habitat includes the size of the tank, the water quality, and tankmates.
All else being equal, the diet should be varied, with veggies, algae tabs, shrimp pellets, ect. Common plecos eat a lot as they grow, and will need a mix of meaty foods with veggies to really hit their prime.
thanks... because i saw some albino plecos they're new here... and still quite expensive about 40 X the price of a normal pleco..
and they are available in 1 inch and 5 inch. i was thinking of getting the 1 incher and grow it to about 8 inches as fast as possible tomix mith my arowana
My friend an I got plecos together about a year or so ago. They were both about an inch or so. Mine died like a week later, but his lived. His mom(who is the one that actually takes care of the fish) put a big piece of lettice in the tank everyday. Within about 10 months, it was a good six inches, and this was in a 10g tank. We went to the pet store in early december and brought him back and got a very, very small clown pleco. It was about 1/2" big. Haven't seen his tank in awhile though.