Royal pleco - general questions

[Dangerdoll]

well, mine has maxed out to 18" this year in a 55 gallon (just parted with him for his benefit ).... he's roughly nine years old.... I guess he averaged on his growth..... never really had any spurts.

 

[miltonfool]

My royal "Gets along" with my High Fin spotted pleco.... but he is still only about 2" and has been that small since I got him about a year ago. I wish they grew faster I love they way the large ones look. My high fin pleco is about 4-5 inches.

 

[Ghost_knife]

I have a Royal and a Chubby and a Gold Nugget in a 200, they get along incredibly well, the Royal is a sneaky little booger though, It blends in with everything and makes everyone who knows I have one about 1/2 an hour to spot him, I've done the same thing really. the Chubby pleco which I've been told looks like a pinecone and lovingly dubbed Fat B****** from the Austin powers series... anyways they are peaceful and Active fish

 

[Halo]

I introduced a 3 inch royal into a tank with a 4 inch, 8 inch, and 12 inch common, respectively. He's buddied up with all of them, and shares a cave with the big ones leaving other caves empty. I think the big territoriality for royals are with other royals, or fish that resemble them in pattern. But every fish is different, and shows distinct personality traits.
I've also seen pictures of big royal tanks, with 6 or 7 10inch plus fish, all schooling together without issue. Nice fish to have, just make sure he's got wood to munch on, and a private cave if he wants it.

 

[schiejr]

Speaking of sizes (and I dont mean to hi-jack QCppg's thread)

What is the growth rate of a common Pl3co? I hear they can get to 12"....others say they can get up to 18"

I have had mine for about a month and it seems he has grown an inch already.

I had a 3" common grow to around 9" during the summer in my goldfish pond-about 4 months.

As regards the Royal, I have mine in a similar setup(w/o the large Pleco and with driftwood). I also make sure it gets sinking pellets at night to supplement wood scrapings. It never pays much attention to algae on the glass.