URGENT!! Pleco turned white, dying...

[kyle3]

if you decide you want a new one i've heard you can find larger ones

some pet stores buy them from people whose fish out grew thier tanks- i know some people buy common plecos with this in mind

you could call around

my fav LFS gets people trying to give them thier fish -they take as many as they can house but even if your LFS doesn't usually do this i bet they get asked to do it a lot if you told them you were on the lookout for a larger pleco i bet they'd be sure to take it in if they knew you'd want it.

by the way how'd the paper go? hope you aced it!

 

[Holly9937]

Thats actually a great idea, maybe I can rescue a pleco!! My only concern is that I only have a 10g QT tank, I couldn't go too big without making him miserable for a few weeks...

the rough draft and all my graphs are due today, so I'll find out some feedback on Tuesday. Hopefully I did well, but we'll see if she laughs at me, my math skills are non existent :laugh:

 

[budrecki]

DO you think I bought a 180g tank for platys? I did the reaserch on both my pleco and id.

"Common sense comes to play here. A fish that grows to an average size of 30 inches, like the I.D. shark, in the wild would grow no smaller than half that in the proper environment in an aquarium, so planning for an average size of 15 inches or more is essential."

http://www.fishinthe.net/html/fishguide/fishguide_fish.php?FC=34&nl=8&nt=5

"36” in the wild, 6-12” in most tanks"
"we never saw an iridescent shark exceed 18 inches. You’ll be lucky to grow one longer than 12 inches. Happily, most top out at 6 to 8 inches"

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish, Pangassius.htm

"Usually not more than 12" (30 cm) in captivity"

http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Pangasius_hypopthalmus.html

 

[kyle3]

mine stink too!

but u know a couple weeks in a 10 gallon with lots of water changes and veggies is better that dying b/c of stunted growth i bet he'd be darn happy in the end

 

[kyle3]

budrecki are we talking about the same iridecent shark?

according to www.fishprofiles.com and many other sources they grow to 50" or more. more than 4'.

 

[Larissa]

Holly, I'm so sorry about your pleco. Is it possible that he was just old or had a shortened life-span from possible tank problems in the past? I completely sympathise with you. I know you're busy but it will get better once the baby gets older and you finish up with school. Just stay on those water changes as much as you can and don't let those with high and mighty attitudes get to you. Most of us realise that life is hectic and you're doing the best you can.