Can you mix Plecos with Puffer fishes?

[Raimeiken]

Can you? and what about mixing different kinds of plecos in one tank?

 

[Fish_fanatic]

How big is your tank? It really isnt a good idea to put more than one pleco in a tank. Unless they are smaller fancy plecos like clown plecos and u have a fair sized tank. Dont know how they would do with puffers though.

 

[Pufferpunk]

ThIt definately depends on tank size, decor & what kind of puffers.

 

[Raimeiken]

ok i have a 50 gal tank, and yeah i'm thinking of collecting just the smaller kind of plecos. I already have 1 clown pleco in there, and i'm planning on getting ummm probably 2 peruvian puffers :? i'm still not sure what puffer to get. The peruvians i've heard are prone to ick, and it's hard to make them eat snails, so their teeth will need to be filed, i dunno, every 6 months or so. I was thinking of true red eye puffers, but i've read that if you keep 2 in one tank, they will kill eachother. Arrowhead puffers are too freakin lazy, i don't like that.

Can you suggest me any FW puffers that are active and don't grow very big?

 

[Raimeiken]

BTW i have a heavy planted tank, and i have 1 long driftwood in the middle. I know plecos love driftwoods.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Sounds ok. I have several species of plecos living in my 90g. SAPs should be fine w/them. Yes, you will definately be trimming teeth. Red-eyes & arrowheads are fish-eater/killers.

 

[Raimeiken]

so i can't mix the redy eye with plecs? DO you have any peruvians? is it really that hard to feed them snails?

whtat kind of plecos do you have? i'm thinking of getting zebra plecos, but i've heard they're pretty territorial. they might kill my other plecs.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I have about 20 different species of plecos & have never been able to keep a zebra alive. Too expensive to chance another one. Tried w/3 already. That's my limit on keeping a fish. If 3 die, I'm not meant to have them. this doesn't hapen very often in the 25+ years I've been keeping fish though. I really need to move all the rocks my plecs are hiding behind & get up a list. Yes, you will deffinately be trimming SAPs teeth.

 

[Raimeiken]

20? wow! holy crap, that's awesome. Have you sucessfully bred any of them?

so how did the zebras die? was it a water chemistry thing or parasites? or are they just that fragile?

 

[Pufferpunk]

They are basically meat eaters. Although bloodworms are a staple fod in my tanks, they still died. Maybe internal parasites? Iwas thinking, dwarf puffers would work too. I have a 50g w/dwarves, SAPs, frontosa & blood parrot cichlids, a royal pleco & corys.
All my plecos are different species, none have interbred.

 

[Raimeiken]

yeah i was thinking of dwarf puffers also, but they're small, wouldn't it be hard to trim their teeth? Anyway, i bought a clown pleco because of the algea in my tank, and they won't bother any of my plants. I'm kinda worried about the carnivorous plecos though, do you think they'll up root my plants?

How many dwarf puffers can i put in the tank, and won't they kill eachother or something?

 

[bobolink]

8O

File a fishes teeth?

I have trouble trimming my dogs toenails!

Anybody have more info on this? I've seen dwarf puffers in LFS and they are small. How big is their mouth when you start filing???????

 

[madasafish]

I would definitely advise you to go with the South American Puffers (Peruvian Puffers; Colomesus asellus), as these grow to a modest 5 inches, are quite active, and are not too aggressive to other fish. Puffers generally leave plecos alone (some exceptions), as plecs fulfill a very different role in the tank, are morphologically (shape-wise) very distinct, and don't compete with puffers for food. The fish to really avoid in a puffer tank (if you really have to combine puffers with other fish) are finny, slow fish such as bettas and angelfish.

I have dwarf puffers, myself. They are reputed to be extremely aggressive, even to larger fish, though I have to say that my Kribensis are a lot more aggressive than these guys. I'd say that these and Green Spot puffers are amongst the least compatible FW/brackish puffers.

If you're going to go for fancier plecs with puffers, I'd definitely suggest Bristlenose Plecos (Ancistrus spp.), also known as Bushynose Plecos. These are quite hardy, and only grow to 6 inches. Some of the fancier varieties, especially those with long tails and elegant dorsal and pectoral fins, will certainly be targets for aggression.

 

[Pufferpunk]

SA puffers do not get larger than 3". They are much more likely to need their teeth trimmed than a dwarf. I throw as many snails I can find in their tank. I still need to trim my SAPs teeth at least every 6 months, never for my dwarves.

See: http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi?board=hospital&action=display&num=1057161492

 

[madasafish]

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=51376&genusname=Colomesus&speciesname=asellus (14cm--5.5")
http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/colomesus_asellus.htm (14cm--5.5")
http://puffernet.tripod.com/asellus.html (14 cm--5.5")
http://www.pufferfish.co.uk/aquaria/species/pufferfish/types/coloasel.htm (15 cm--6")
http://www.nscontact.com/catalogue/-nsc-en_60_52_01_408_1_Colomesus_asellus_Tetraodontidae.aspx (14 cm--5.5")

Nope, they get to 5 inches I've never kept them, but I've done a heck of a lot of research on them, and have seen many specimens of a good size.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I have 5 of these puffers. At the Shedd Aquarium, in Chicago, there are a group of over 20. None of them are over 3". Of all the folks I know that personally keep these particular puffers, none have ever gotten over 3". It is possible that they may grow larger in the wild, but I don't think so in captivity.

 

[Raimeiken]

ok, i've decided, i'm getting the SA's. How many should i get for my 50gal heavy planted tank? I'm going to be putting more plecs in there also. I'm only gonna buy the small plecs that only grow up to 4 inches. I have a list already, but looking for these and buying them will take sometime

Angelicus Pleco
Butterfly Pleco [My LFS have one of these for $42]
Candy Striped pleco
Golde marble brisltenose pleco
King Tiger Pleco [LFS has one fore $44]
Blizzard cactus pleco [I don't know how big this pleco gets but it looks pretty small in those pics]
L002, Tiiger Pleco
L129
L169, Gold Stripe Panaque
L183, Starlight Bristlenose Catfish
Flash Pleco
L236
L239, Blue Panaque [don't know the max size, but looks pretty cool]
L260, Queen Arabesque Pleco
Chocolate Zebra Pleco
L306
L134, Leopard Frog Pleco
L135, Worm Line Peckoltia
LDA09, Golden Black Spot Hypostomus
Mega Clown Pleco [it didn't say the max size, but i saw it at liveaquaria.com and it said it grows to about 4"]
Zebra Pleco

I'm not gonna get all of them, i wish i will, but i don't think all of them will fit in my 50gal tank and they're freakin expensive. I might buy porobably 4-5 of them. So help me decide. Few of them grow bigger than my 4" limit but they're too freakin cool to put them out of my list. The biggest one in that list i think is 5"

 

[Pufferpunk]

Funny, but the 1st 2 on your list I bought a week ago & they both died. Not that they are bad fish, maybe the stock (same supplier) was bad.

From what I can remember or the plecos that actually come out in the daytime, I have:

Brown/chocolate zebra
Mango
Bluespot
Queen arabesque
Clown
L333 King tiger
L264
L243 Clown
Adonis (12")
Goldspot (12")
Royal (6")

I'm sure there are several I have forgotten about that are hiding. I never see them. Especialy the most expensive, the bluespot. Haven't seen it since I put it in the tank. cost me $90. Also, I buy algae wafers by 3 lb bags. Lasts me about a year.

 

[Raimeiken]

I love to have a royal in my tank but them things grow up to 13"

How much was your chocolate zebra? does it look any different from the zebra?
Anyway, is the bluespot your talking about by any chance this one

They call it a blue eyed pleco, but i don't know if it's the same one. One of the members there said

"From what I understand it is a rare fish due to habitat destruction and the only place they are found is along the magdelan tributaries where the drug cartels control most of the area making it next to impossible to import in large numbers. I would say if you can afford it get it. It does require a large tank eventually. It's adult size is 10 1/2 inches and tank mates must be non-aggressive."

8O 8O so that's why they're rare.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Blue eyes used to be very common in my day (20+ years ago). You are correct as to why they're not available anymore. Mine has light blue spots on it's body. Haven't looked it up on PC yet.