What kind of pleco is this?

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StellaStars

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This little fellow got an accidental ride to my tank on a piece of planted driftwood. He's awfully cute and fun to watch, but I'm almost certain he'll grow to be too big for my tank.

I'd love to know exactly what he is so I can figure out if I should give him back now, or if I can get away with keeping him for a while and re-homing if/when he gets too big.
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I'd say it's a bristlenose pleco and a male with the lack of bristles on the mouth. Will grow to 6", poop machine and 20g minimum. :)
 
Interesting! I thought bristlenose at first... didn't realize the males don't have the bristles. That explains it.

So, should I just take him back now and get it over with? I just have a 5G planted tank.
 
Ha! This is already one of the most expensive hobbies I've ever undertaken. I think I'm nearly $200 in on my first week.

Thinking about future tanks to be sure, but not quite yet ;)

It's funny, I've been obsessing over what to eventually stock the tank with, reading up on every fish mentioned in any nano thread, and now I'm feeling attached to the one that showed up by accident.
 
First of all, +1 on bristlenose, however males do get the bristles and females do not. 5 gal is way too small for a 6 inch fish, not to mention they are very high bioload.

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BN plecos are great fish, but like everyone else said they are a poop machine and need a much bigger tank. How big is he right now? If he's still pretty small you might be able to keep him in there for a bit and setup a larger tank, could be a good excuse ;)

EDIT: whoops sorry for the bump, I didn't see the date on this thread at first
 
BN plecos are great fish, but like everyone else said they are a poop machine and need a much bigger tank. How big is he right now? If he's still pretty small you might be able to keep him in there for a bit and setup a larger tank, could be a good excuse ;)

EDIT: whoops sorry for the bump, I didn't see the date on this thread at first

Input is always welcome, thanks for chiming in.

Right now he/she? Is only about 1.5 inches tops. So okay for now. I'm already researching new tanks, so I expect I'll have something new up and running soon enough.

As for being a poop machine, I've been concerned about that, but tests of water quality keep coming out good, so I guess it's okay for now.
 
As long as your filter is running well and you vac the poop off the substrate during water changes, you have nothing to worry about imo. They make great algae eaters in the right tank, and I think their bristles look cool when fully grown haha
 
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