Replacement pleco.

[Eupterus]

Long story short, I lost a clown pl*co in Sept.
Today I'm thinking that since every time I look at the tank, I see a "hole"..I actually have become very sad to even look at my pl*co tank anymore.
As of today, I am thinking I want a new baby. In fact, I got to to thinking, I got enough space in a 55 gal for them...Maybe I should pick up two new babies.
The idea feels right and has me excited.. I can easily find clown plecos. In fact , every once in a while I stare at cute baby clown plecos...So tiny compared to mine.

This is a difficult choice for two reasons.
-For you see, I am now morally opposed to wild collected fish and clown plecos are rarely bred in captivity.
I've become worried that collecting wild fish has become about economics and sustainablity may not always be considered if people can profit.
How can we as consumers check up on which wild fish are being sustainably collected from the wild?.
I feel fish bred in captivity are happier in tanks and are not subjected to being shipped around the world and sitting in empty tanks at some wholesaler.

- My clown plecos are about 20 yrs old and putting a new baby or two in might be asking for trouble. While it's nothing serious, these fish do challenge each other. Mine have never harmed each other, just faced off a bit and then one would swim away.

 

[GEV83]

Wish we had clown pleco's out here rather then the normal pardalis or gibbiceps. Only pleco's ive seen out here Ive only seen a Royal pleco once in person and gold nuggets once as well. If your missing your lost Clown then just get another one. Better for them to end up in your tank where they will be cared for and loved then a kids 5 gal with 10 baby feeder goldfish

 

[Sploke]

Clown plecos aren't particularly difficult to breed in captivity. I've got a group of six that I would like to try and get breeding, just haven't had the time to condition them properly yet.

 

[Eupterus]

I disagree, they are a challenge. They need a dry season/wet season to get them going.
From what I've read and experienced they need soft water to breed. Which means for many of us getting an expensive RO. I've done everything else with mine and failed to get babies. So as far as I know, this step is crucial. If you don't have acid/soft water for them, you might as well give up.
If you have these things in place, I hope you are successful.

 

[fishorama]

There are quite a few small plecs that people breed & sell, L066, L333, leopard frogs, etc & of course BNs. Clown plecs are 1 of my all time favs though, I'm sorry you lost yours. 20 years is a good long time, congrats on that.

 

[toddnbecka]

I have a single young adult L-129 available if you're interested. I had a group of them, but some new addditions brought something along that killed them off rather quickly. Should have used a Q/T tank, but I didn't. The single survivor was in a different tank for cleanup duty and wasn't exposed to whatever got the others. He/she is currently sharing a 55 with 10 polka-dot loaches, 7 L-134's, 3 L-204's, a single juvie BN, 2 Synodontis petricola refugees from the other 55, (they had ragged fins, apparently bottom of the pecking order) and a single juvie eupterus who's growing fast. No problems among the mob so far, but I'm sure the L-129 would be happier with less competition. The mob will be spread around as they grow, but most of them are half (or less) adult size.
Here's a couple pics, one of these is the sole survivor:

 

[Eupterus]

If you are in driving distance, I'd be interested, if not paying to ship a single fish would be too much. Not to mention kinda risky since it's cold here in VT at this time of year.
In other news, I'm going to try and find captive bred clown plecos.