How much current for a Pleco?

[Galaxie]

I am going to adopt a 4-inch bushy-nose pleco from a friend and give him a private residence in a spare 20 gallon hex aquarium. He'll be all alone with 3 nice big blocks of driftwood. I hear plecos like a lot of water movement, but I was curious how much is "a lot". The current filter is an AC70 with the intake 5-inches off the bottom, ......so 300 gph, but its a 24-inch tall hex, so the bottom water isn't moving too much. The two powerheads I have are a 170gph and a 340 gph. Which do you think is more appropriate?

thx

 

[MonoSebaelover]

With my plecs, I have 2 in a 29g and have an Emperor 400 and Emperor 280 and an Hagen 301 Powerhead. So quite a bit of current. They live in extremely high paced rivers which is part of what their mouth is for. You could always try one way and add on. That is what I did, I started with the larger emperor. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Barbie]

15 times the tank volume turned over an hour would be more than sufficient. In a 20 gallon tank, you should find this bristlenose a special friend. You could easily make it a love shack and raise a tidy little family of youngsters to trade at your LFS for store credit . I've yet to hear of a local fish store that didn't want all the Ancistrus they could get.

Barbie