Rescuing a sucker fish

L

Ljwebb

Registered Member
Dec 11, 2016
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Clearly by my title you can tell I haven't a clue what I'm doing. I found a 5 gallon aquarium in my apartment laundry room with a couple dozen pieces of gravel, an inch of water, and a roughly 1.5-2 inch sucker fish of indeterminate kind (The first five pages of Google pictures doesn't show me one that looks like it) and a note saying "free fish". Per Google, I have filled said aquarium with conditioned water, fish rocks, a couple fake plants, a couple pieces of wood, a heater and a filter and I have algae tabs and vegetables to feed it with. Also per Google, this is not a viable long term solution. My husband and I aren't sure we want to be this guy's long term home, for one thing we're not sure we even have room for a bigger tank, but we don't want to give him to someone else who will just keep him in something this small. How long is it reasonable to keep this poor guy in a 5 gallon tank while we find him a good home? And while we're at it, any tips to keep him healthy while we've got him?

Eta: I tried to put this on the newbie thread, not sure how to move it without spamming.
 
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Admin can move the thread.

Can you take a picture? There are a lot of 'sucker fish' and not all of them get to be huge. Some will be fine in a 5 for a while.

Feed lightly, and do a 2 gallon water change every other day, since I'm guessing you don't have a test kit to monitor for ammonia.
 
Lj, welcome. Check the freshwater fish section at liveaquaria.com. This may help you identify what you have. Best thing you can do at this point is change water often until a nitrogen cycle is formed in your filter and in your tank. Not sure what you have in terms of filtration, but be sure to rinse the sponge or bio media portion in tank water only to preserve the beneficial bacteria that will (eventually) form in there. In the meantime, like Sheila suggested, if you can do a ~40-50% WC every other day, everything should go well. Eventually you shouldn't have to do water changes more than once a week.
 
Thanks for rescuing... As stated, if you can post a picture that would help with ID. Everything stated above is correct. I wouldnt feel bad if it went 3-4 days without a water change then work up to a week or so. It's one 2" fish in 5g. If you post your location, maybe we can find a local club that can find someone to adopt it or maybe even someone here on the forums may want it.

Sucker fish is likely some type of pleco (plecostomus) or algae eater...again, a picture will help. Have a look at planetcatfish.com. Search "common pleco" or "ancistrus pleco"
 
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After a month, this is still the best picture I have of him. Some sort of pleco, clearly.

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Meant to add that were considering keeping him. After looking at tanks at pet stores, We think we can fit a 20 gallon for the moment, which should hopefully keep him for a couple years? Until we get the downpayment for a house? Or is that likely not big enough?
 
I can't tell for sure, but it looks like a common pleco Common plecos can get well over a foot long. I know folks who have kept one, by itself in a 55g and it had to curl up to spin around. You could keep one in a 20 long tank for awhile. Throw in some drift wood and feed him zuccini, cucumber and quality sinking wafers Petco is currently running their $1/gal sale on tanks, right up to 75g now at some stores even!
 
Sorry, can't really tell from the picture. If it's a common, it will need meatier foods--they stop eating algae as they mature. If it's bristlenose--which I lean towards based on the spotting--might be a female, which usually do not have the bristles, and will be fine in a 20 and prefer the vegetables.
 
I'm leaning towards bristlenose (ancistrus) also...which is fine in a 20. It may be a female or a young male; I've seen 2.5" males with bristles and some that didnt grow any til 3.5".

Ditto on checking Petco for $ per gallon sale if you have one nearby. I suggest an Aquaclear 30 filter..they are very quiet, and work well....buy online and look for best price, don't buy at big box store.

For a 20g tank you have a choice of "high" or "long"...your preference. If that's a bristlenose pleco that's plenty big and you could have a few other small fish.
 
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