Plec is amazing!

R

root81

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Feb 23, 2007
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Eastern Townships, Quebec
Had family visiting for easter, so I decided it would be a good idea to scrub the algea off the glass in my tank. After scrubbing it down, and changing abou 60% of the water over a 2 hour period and rining out the filter 2x the tank looked decent, and the water was clean. Everyone enjoyed watching the fish, but 4 days later the algea was taking off again...

I decided I don't want to bother with this maintenance 2x a week, so I went off in search of snails to clean the glass (and probably trim the plants...) Well, after visiting 4 shops in the area, and no one stocking snails I asked the guy in the LFS nearest my house what he would recommend. I disagreed that a common plecto would be fine for the 10g tank, but bought a small one anyway since I am planning on setting up a larger tank anyway.

This guy is a machine! I added him to the tank at about 7:00pm, and by 10:00 he was moving around scaring the cherry barbs. 6:00 the next morning when I passed by to feed the barbs before leaving for work I was amaized. The plec had cleaned out every visible trace of algea! Got him some algea wafers, and I guess he's still finding plenty to eat because he's ignored the food for the most part.

The critter is so ugly he's cute, and everyone around home is laughing at his love affaire with the heater and themometer...

On the downside, the little waste factory has thrown my tank out of balance. I had enough plants to handle the barbs, and keep the nitrate even at 5ppm. Ammonia and nitrite didn't have any noticible spikes, but the nitrate has shot up to 10 now. Guess that means a few more water changes until I get some more plants.
 
Common?? you were correct in saying that they would not be fine in a 10 gal. many can get over 20" and would need a considerably larger tank..
they do eat algae when young but will switch to more protein when they get older.

btw..I saw a larger common plec in a 150..and thought that tank was too small..
 
It is a poor choice for such a tank. As you have seen he quickly decimated the algae supply. Now start adding blanched veggies such as zuchini or cucumber. Also driftwood would be a good idea as well. A pleco should be an eating machine, and many will starve to death in smaller tanks, let alne foul up the water really fast as you have seen.

Unless you are considering a 100 gallon tank in the near future I will trade him for some otocinclus cats.
 
Some lfs will let you trade the larger one in for a small one again when it gets too large for the tank.
 
yeah..that's how the local one got the 20" pleco in a 150..got traded..they are amazing fish when they get that big..I knew they got big but that was a bit of a shocker...LOL

if you can find oto's try for 1 or 2 of those(even they will decimate algae in a 10)
 
I would keep an eye on the pleco and the other fish as well. See my post on "common pleco eating guppies" a couple of days ago. Our LFS did let me trade in a big pleco for a smaller one, but I decided to donate it to the shop and get a few otos instead...

L.
 
Ottos are considerably smaller than plecos, and do just as well a job (from my experiences, they often do BETTER.). They tend to be a little bit sensitive, however.
 
well he was just saying that it's for a while only to use the common pleco.well if for a 10g tank i would reccomend bristlenose and since ur changing to a bigger tank it's okay also it would onli grow up abt 15cm long.
 
Right now the pleco is only about 3", so he's no real danger to the other fish, and he has very little chance of starving. Even though the LFS guy was stupid I decided to buy the pleco anyway because I will be setting up a larger tank in the near futur (hope to get the tank for my birthday next month, if not, I'm buying it myself.) The larger tank might not really be enough for him either, but it will give him more time before I have to upgrade to larger again, or find someone to take him. As long as he looks comfortable, and does his job, I'll keep him around.
 
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