Pleco

[NotCalebSherida]

My mom is looking after my tank back home while i'm away in college, it's cycling and i asked her to just feed my fish, turn on/off the lights and check the temp every now and then

So she checked the temp and it was too high (greater than 80 degrees) so she freaked out and couldn't figure out the heater and pulled it out, then when she figured out how to change the settings put it back in and it shattered. So she went to the store and got a new one. All well and good.

So she calls me and tells me about it and i explain how to work it, etc. and then she says, oh yeah, your siamese fighting fish is picking on this new fish i got (i groan and ask what kind)... oh idunno, but the guy at the store said it would clean my glass and eat excess food so i got it! (i groan again and ask if it's a pleco) uhh the reciept says plecosotonomas or something.. (i groan and say ok fine) So i told her to get him drift wood to suck on and algae tablets to eat... the store won't take him back because our water params are bad, the tank is only a week and a half old. So now i'm stuck with this, which is ok, but i have no clue how to take care of this fish...

I told her to definetly add drift wood for him and to throw in an algae tablet every other day or so.

Is there anything else i need to know about this beast -besides that he cost her $5 and it's going to get a foot long?

I told her to not be so willing to shell out money because the pet store is trying to pass off fish to her without giving her the whole story. I said that if someone came up to you and said that he's going to give you this dog that vacumes your house and does you dishes would you take it or ask him what the catch is?

I hope she learns because my betta, and 5 zerbra danios and amazon sword and now pleco are in her hands, hahaha

 

[OrionGirl]

Tell her that a bigger tank is needed. And, that by adding more fish to a cycling tank, she's reduced the odds that any of them will survive.

 

[FISHLORD_8]

youll need a huge tank for the pleco but if your only dealing with it for now ,then you should set up a small hiding space for it so the betta wont pick at it anymore

 

[NotCalebSherida]

yeah there are a few caves, but aside from the drift wood and algae tablets is there anything else that it's going to need

 

[me2]

I have a pleco... my friend showed up one day ( in the spring ) and announced, here, i brought you my fish... of course, she'd broken down her own tank and gave all the fish away . He's six inches long and stuck in a puny 20 ga tank for now... I feed him one half to a full tablet per day (depends whether or not he's out and about, looking for food) and he likes to eat his driftwood, but doesn't hide beneath it; he prefers to hide out vertically behind a bunch of plants, sucking on the glass. I vacuum every other day. LOTS of waste. Tell your mom to bag him up, wander down to the nearest neighbour with a big aquarium, and say, here, i brought you my fish! Just kidding. If you have the room, they're such interesting fish. Good luck with it!

And that copious waste will be HARD on your cycling tank

 

[NotCalebSherida]

fantastic. haha i have pretty fine sand though, so vacuming is difficult i would think. How do you guys manage all the waste besides vacuming.. is there any other way

 

[OrionGirl]

Vaccuming with sand is simple--you just don't put the end into the sand, but wave it just over the top. The waste will get sucked up, and maybe a bit of sand--but compared to leaving the waste in the tank, this is no big deal.

 

[Archangel]

Plecos, IMO, are by far one of the most interesting and "pet" like group of fish out there. They are very hardy really don't require that much attention. While they do grow large, it's not something you have to worry about right away.

As to sand, do just what OrionGirl said. You may want to turn your filter off before and for a bit after cleaning to help any stirred up sand settle faster, but it's not a big deal.