are plecos hard to keep, or is it just me?

C

c-at

Registered Member
Sep 19, 2004
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canada
i've had a large 30 gal. tank for a few years, but when we moved, i downsized a fair amount to a little hexagon tank. i started haveing a HUGE problem with algae, so i bought a pleco. he was a very efficient little fellow, i had him for about a month and a half, and all of a sudden, he DIED JUST THIS EVENING!!! he was fine this morning when i looked in on everyone. i've had this problem before with plecos. they do fine for awile, but then just suddenly die. he was eating well, seemed like a happy little guy, my daughter will be sad...
i guess my question is: are they just hard to keep or is it just me? i know i'll have to get something to help with tank cleaning. i hesitate on getting a snail again, as they multiply so much, and i have the smaller tank now. i just have an undergravel filter now. is it bad to have too many snails in such a small tank? any advice?
 
I've kept a 8" common pleco in a 10 gallon tank before... I don't condone it and won't do it again but that in and of itself won't kill them...

I have had plecos die spontaneously in the past, but they tend to be very hardy fish (as far as normal varieties go).
 
it's probably about 5 gallons, and it was a common pleco. he was a small one (maybe 1 1/2 ") , and i have a small goldfish and a beta. what do you think about snails? is there any way to keep their population..."contained"? without harming them?
 
Goldfish need a minimum of 20-30 gallons per fish and they are huge waste producers, the betta would be fine in the small hex alone, or with a couple of snails or an Otocinclus catfish. Your tank is massively overstocked - have you tested nitrate? With overstocking, there is no biological control for algae.
 
Even if 1 inch per gallon was true (and lets not turn this into debate thread) an adult goldfish grows to be 12-18 inches long. So a 5 gallon tank is no good. The only fish I would add to that 5 gallon would be a single betta or dwarf gourami, plsu maybe some snails and fresh water shrimp. Or else 4-5 male guppies and some plants. A dwarf frog would also work well in there.

A common pleco will get to be 18 inches long if allowed to mature properly and creates a ton of waste. It will need to be kept in a tank that is a minimum of 55 gallons but more likely a 75 gallon tank.
 
fully agreed that a pleco will not fit in a 5 g, next issue how to acclimate pleco's. these fish are very prone to internal parasites, and have trouble adjusting to new environments. acclimate them very slowly to the tank by adding small amounts of tank water to their bag over the pperiod of several hours. after they get ued to the tank, make sure they are well fed. if their belly is not rounded, and they are eating good treat for internal parsites with metrodozinal (sp.) they should look like the have a bit of a beer gut most of the time. if their bellies are flat or concave it's a bad sign. next is driftewood. some pleco's eat it, but all pleco's are happier with driftwood in the tank. they cling to wood in the wild, and prefer to do so in our tanks.

When you get a bigger tank, try those things see if you get better results on your pleco.
dave
 
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