pleco help

C

cloudystarlight

AC Members
Jun 2, 2010
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Japan
So I figured I posted this in the wrong place about an hour ago and it will not let me delete the post now. :wall:
I am needing some help pls.

We got a 55 gallon tank for this person, which was really nasty and came with 5 pleco's and a lot of jellybean Cichlid's, including at least 80 babies. We have found a home for all the babies and 1 pleco. We emptied the tank which had a little water in it, cause of fishing out babies is not the easiest thing to do. We took all the water out, the rocks and all the decorations. My husband had to unclog all 4 filters and we have 2 bubble stones, 2 small wands and one big wand. We let the tank cycle for 1 hour, could not let it cycle anymore cause the Cichlid's started to die. Since we have put all the fish back in, one of our pleco's seems to be stressed or something. He/She is 12-13 inches long and has been sucking on the side of the tank since we put them back in. And he had a sucked in stomach, I just went to check on all of them again, and his stomach is back to normal. He/she does look a little different in color. All the others including the white pleco is acting normal. Do any of you know what maybe wrong?
I do know we have way too many pleco's in the tank.
Thank you!
 
Have another question, we are really new to keeping pleco's. We have put some cucumber in the tank, which I put between the rocks so they dont float to the top. What else can I feed them. There are 4 in the tank, the biggest is 12-13 inches, and the rest are between 8-10 inches. I am not sure what kind they are, if I can get a good picture I will post them. How do you all keep the food from floating to the top?
Thanks so much!
 
As far as I know you could try a little aquarium salt as it can solve a wide range of problems for you as well as help your fish adapt to the new water.
 
They sound like common plecos based on their size. They will readily eat Hikari algae wafers. None of those plecos should stay in that 55G tank though, it's just not big enough. And they are HUGE waste producers. Since you gave the tank, filter and decorations a big cleaning and it seems like cleaning or changing water had not been done in a long time, you may see the tank go through a cycle. Keep an eye on your water parameters.....check daily for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. And be prepared to do a large water change if you see any ammonia or nitrite in the test results. A spike in either one might kill the fish left in that tank. Any pictures?
 
I dont think the guy we got the tank from cleaned it at all while he had it, I know he kept it for 3 yrs and he got it from another person that gave it to him. I cant really complain cause we did get it all for free. Here are pictures of the tank and pleco's. We had over 100 fish in there, that is including all the babies. Here are some pictures. We didnt scrub it completely, we wiped off the bottom of the tank with this brush wand. That came with everything we got.

The tank before we had to clean it, it had soo much waste caked under the rocks and every time the pleco's got scared they would stir it all up. "big" boy is on the far left. We had 5 now down to 4.
dscn4934.jpg

After we cleaned it
dscn4967.jpg

"Big Boy" on back of tank.
dscn4978s.jpg

The albino pleco
dscn4973.jpg

Another one, couldnt get a picture of the 4th one. But he/she looks like this one.
dscn4975e.jpg


Thank you all for the help so far :)
 
You may try some cucumber slices or lettuce in there to see if the white pleco will eat it. Just looks like he's a bit rugged and run down.
 
zucchini is a great food for plecos. because you have more than one large pleco i'd be putting at least a few different pieces of zucchini in there for them (otherwise they may squabble over who gets what for dinner). you can hold the zuch down with a veggie clip or even with a fork (make sure you lay the fork with the tines down). make sure you rinse it well before you put it in the tank, so that pesticides don't end up in there.

another thing that plecos require in their diet is driftwood, as they rasp on it and it aids in their well being. a few nice medium to large pieces in there would make the tank look much more natural (i personally would remove the ceramic decorations) and would provide more hidey holes and 'comfy' spaces for them.

you may want to consider switching your gravel to something that is smaller stones. large gravel like that can trap a lot of waste under it and it is a pain in the tookus to clean out from underneath.

as others have said, that tank is not large enough for the plecos. i'd look at upgrading to at least a 125 or larger if you want to keep them.
 
I know this is going to sound crazy, but if they lived in that filth for a long time, it will take time for them to acclimate to a clean tank. I'm sure your going to go thru some sort of cycle, testing should be done daily. As far as feeding them, I would blanch the zucchini before you feed it to them. I usually cut up 2 zuc's, blanch them, flatten them in a freezer zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. Instant food for you pleco's for awhile. Just thaw before giving it to them.
 
Hmmmm looking at your plecos they are...

Pic 1 - Pterygoplichthys pardalis L-021 & L-023
Pic 2 - Albino Pterygoplichthys pardalis L-021 & L-023
Pic 3 - Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus L-001

The tank is to small for all of them. If you want just keep the L-001. They dont get as big as Pardalis. The rest should be rehomed
 
I have put cucumber in there for them the past 2 nights, about 4 slices total. But I can not keep in on the bottom for long before they float to the top and it doesnt seem like they are even interested in it. Heading to the store today to pick up some zucchini, hopefully they will get use to eating veggies soon. I have been checking the ammonia, etc daily and everything is good right now.
I am trying to find at least 2 of them a home right now, it is really hard to do that since I am overseas with my military husband and not too many people here have a huge tank. I am thinking I should go to the fish stores here and see if they will take them in, but the language barrier here is so difficult.
As of right now I should get some drift wood and something for them to hide in correct?
Thank you all!!
 
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