[Marshall1391]

Had the idea in the chat thread but thought I'd branch out a little.

I want a Pleco in my tank to aid with cleaning up scraps and keeping other bits and bats clean in the tank. Only thing is I dont want to go buy one and it get chomped straight away, or at all.

So what I thought was getting a Common Plec, about the smae size as the fish, so about 5-6 inches and then getting a tank and filling it with feeders, so about 30 goldfish. Then keeping about 4-5 goldfish in the main tank at a time, aswell as the kids and the plec. Still feeding them everyday with squid shrimp and other food, that way they're less likely to attack the pleco and more than likely go for the goldfish.

Sound like a good idea or is there a massive hole in this plan that I'm not seeing?

Thanks.



heres one angry m**********r of a plec aswell

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[Dashina]

i've read hungry plecos will sometimes chase slow moving fish to eat their Slime coating.
Never happened to me yet but I've seen a pleco fighting my Ceverum.


IME Plecos produce more waste more than they clean up. I bought a huge pleco to help clean my feeder tank but ended up bad because the pleco produced so much waste. I ended up throwing my pleco in a river near our place.


many piranha owners report eaten plecos but maybe the Goldfish color will attract the piranhas more.


One more thing.. I don't recommend feeding them goldfish since goldfish contain thiamese that causes vitamin B1 deficiency to your pet.

[RayW]

I can't really weigh in on the waste issue... but my piranha don't seem to care about the pleco... he chills in the plants... the RBPs would rather eat my freaking snails than the pleco...

[Marshall1391]

slower chase haha, and that is a good point about the goldfish, suppose we could use something else but just as colourful.

[RayW]

The petsmart near me has stuff on sale all the time... and my RBPs don't really eat that much... so I am going to start buying random big fish that they have on sale or clearance... they had some medium size silver dollars the other week for like less than $3. those would be a good meal!

[Marshall1391]

see, over here the laws are all fucked up. when i got the kids, i literally walked in, paid for them, came back a few days later and picked them up (could have taken them there and then) when i tried to get a f*cking goldfish from a different place... 'how big is the tank, how long have you had it, how warm is it, what sort of tank is it, how big is the tank, is it in direct sunlight, has it got decorations, is there any tank mate?!?!?! fealt like the gestapo where questioning me!

[scent troll]

ive actually paired up a pleco with my old shoal of 6 red bellies. worked out wonderfully because the tank was well enough with size and the piranhas were always well fed. but i never got the pleco for 'cleaning' duties. in fact, i will tell you the truth about plecos. dont let their algae eater looks fool you. these fish produce much more waste then anything they clean.
plecos are notorious for spiking a tanks waste. so i would caution you against it. now it isnt a bad experiment to see if you can pull it off...but the tank cleanings will only increase. yes you may have a few pieces of uneaten food that the pleco picks up...but thats a small prize for what i consider a pooping machine lol

good luck all the same

[Da' Manster!]

I've never kept plecos because they really aren't necessary...Just keep cut back on the amount that you feed and make sure if you remove any uneaten food immediately or ASAP'ish!...try to get your feedings so your piranha devours everything in a minimal amount of time (smaller portions) and you shouldn't have any problems!...

[Marshall1391]

Well, not been on fore a while, been busy as sh*t with work, marriage and honeymoon, but the place idea worked well, here's Patrick a few days ago with jäger sat on his head... And as for spikes or more waste he seems to be ok with the 2000 lph filter.  IMG_20140118_013418.jpg (880.17K)
Number of downloads: 1

[scent troll]

very cool looking fish!
thanks for sharing

that pleco looks really nice man..glad theyre coexisting