plecos not growing?

W

wobbz

AC Members
Nov 14, 2008
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why don't the plecos i buy ever grow?

a while back i had a pleco and i got him as probably a 6 incher, and he didnt grow one bit.

and now, 2 months ago i got a small pleco and he hasn't grown at all either.

i feed him algae wafers and all of those little treats but that doesn't seem to help.

anyone know what?
 
That would depend on what kind of pleco you have... I have a clown pleco that will never really get any bigger than 3-4 inches... If you post some pics ppl will be able to tel lyou what kind you have, and how big they grow. Also, with a 55g do you really want a bigger pleco than 6 inches?
 
Plecos are very slow growing fish, you won't see any growth in two months.
I would also include cucumber and courgette (zucchini) in it's diet.
 
well, the time i did have that 6 inch plec, i had him for a long long long time, approx. a year and a half maybe? does it really take them that long to grow? each one i bought, were common plecos, black and silverish. and i haven't been on the site for a while so my signature is a bit off. i recently cycled a 150 and am hoping to get an ok sized pleco in there. :] thanks for the input.
 
They are not fast growers at all. What's also going to affect the growth of every pleco is size of tank, quality of water, and frequency and nutritional value of food. A 6" common pleco is a young pleco and still growing and should be fed accordingly. It is possible to stunt them by not providing for them correctly. There's a big difference between giving a young fish enough food for it to live, and giving it enough food to grow.
 
I know you said algae wafers and "all of those little treats" but what specifically are you feeding them and how often? I've found that commons grow pretty quickly and I usually notice somewhat of a difference month to month. Between the driftwood and cucumbers or zucchini every week mine seem to eat non-stop.
 
My common has gown about 4 inches at the most in the past year. Indeed they do grow slowly and continue to grow their entire life. Don't forget that not only length, they also grow in girth as well. That's a lot of body to fill out! By the time it is 5 it will be lucky to reach 12" and by age 15 will be about 20. Due to being long lived there is no need for them to grow fast.
 
I feed my plecos canned french style green beans. They love it, but water changes are a must.
 
if you give a pleco a lot of room, a good diet and good water, they will grow more quickly. but they wont grow much in the space of a couple of months. if you had a species that maxed out at 6", then they wont grow at all. its really species dependent.

i have a gibby that i got at 2.5" in 2005 and is now over 12" long. but its taken 4 years and adequate tank space for him to reach that size. i have several smaller species as well that grow A LOT more slowly than the gibby. ive got an L239 that is about 4" long. hes grown maybe .5" in the last 10 months or so. ive got a clown pleco that is about 3" long and he hasnt shown much growth in his length, but hes gotten nice and fat :) and then i have a flounder pleco (dekeseryia brachiura spelling?) that has doubled in length from 1.5" to 3" in just a few months, but his species maxes out around 5-6" so im expecting a slow down to happen
 
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