Common Pleco in pond

[SLT]

Ok, so I have a common Pleco in a pond... He's roughly 6" long now and I need to bring him in for the winter. I have a limited budget and my options are:

A 20 long - I have the hood, light, and filter, I'll have to buy everything else...
or
A 75 gallon - Just the tank, no hood or light...

I need to bring him in ASAP because the nights are getting colder.

I also have an eclipse 6 that houses 6 baby shubunkin/goldfish, a few ghost shrimp, and a golden apple snail. It has a crack in the side - anyone know how well the stuff to fix acrylic tanks works? I'd like to keep using it for my little critters if I can.

Also would really like to hold off on using the 75 gal. if I can. So I guess I'm asking if a 6" common pleco would winter well in a 20 long.

 

[verbal]

He is still young and could easily grow 2 or 3 inches over the winter. I would put him in the 75. If for right now it is underfiltered, I think that is better than the smaller tank.

He won't care if he doesn't have a light.

 

[SLT]

Ok, so all he really needs for the bigger tank is a lid and filter? Everything else I can probably get a little at a time. Just don't have a bunch of money saved for this... Probably should have though. I'm a procrastinator in the worst way. It's also my first time really dealing with a Pleco.