common pleco question

[fzthomas]

hi all,

I have two common pleco's - both about 7cm.
Can i keep the two together in one 60L aquarium or do you recommand me to keep them seperated?
I have read that they can become aggressive towards other pleco's once they are 'adult plecos'.

And secondly, when do we speak of "adult pleco's"?

Many thanks for your feedback,
Thomas

 

[wataugachicken]

i would recommend getting a bigger tank or returning one or both of your fish- common plecos grow to 20-24 inches (50-60cm) and if they don't have enough personal territory or food they may begin to fight with each other. your tank size (16g approx) is kind of small for most pleco species - even the small ones will get 3-5 inches long, and all of them eat a lot and produce large amounts of waste. do some reasearch on otos or corydoras catfish, both species stay small and are very entertaining to have in your tank.

any adult fish is one that is close to or at adult size, or that is sexually mature and able to breed. someone else may have a more specific definition. common plecos are fast growers, other types can take years to grow to adult size.

 

[fishorama]

Common plecs grow fast too. How about a group of 3-4 otos instead, they are tiny plecos & like to be together.

 

[fzthomas]

thank you very much for the feedback!
i think i'll keep the smallest one for a while and once he is too big, i'll take him out and move him to my neighbour's big tank.

I'll do some research on the otos and corydoras.
Are both concidered to be schooling fish? or is 2 or 3 enough?

 

[TKOS]

Otos aren't really schoolers and are way better eaters of algae than plecos. So a group of 2-3 would be fine. Plecos need massive amounts of food to survive and often die of starvation in smaller tanks. You should be feeding it veggies (like cucumber and zuchinni) or algae tablets.

Cories are schoolers and don't eat algae (they are catfish).