Can I put a Plecostomus with my African Cichlids?

[Rolltide1980]

First off, sorry if this is a noob or rookie question, even though I am fairly new to this. I have a 75 gallon FW tank that I've had set up for about 3 weeks now. I have 6 African Cichlids and a Pictus catfish and I noticed I'm starting to get a good bit of Algae on my rocks. Would a Plecostomus be alright to add to the tank or is there a better alternative? I have a feeling a pleco would be fine but just wanted to check before I just throw one in there.

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[ricco34]

I have one with mine and it's fine. Gets chased out of spots sometimes bit other than that it's fine


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[Rolltide1980]

Sounds good, mine are only about an inch long right now so I don't think they will be a threat if I get a pleco that's at least a couple inches in length

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[gilpi]

Seen it done many times. I personally like keeping fish from one region only but I don't see a problem as long as you don't make the water too alkaline or add salt since they are from softer water. My water is on the high pH side so it's great for Africans but I have also kept Plecos in the same type of water for years.


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[MICEY]

unless you have a huge tank a bristle month or other smaller pleco would be better common plecos can quickly get over 12" long

 

[alyxandria]

I have a 55g with 23 cichlids and 2 bristlenose ancistrus plecostemous and they're all a big happy family. Though my plecos are super lazy. I don't find that they do much with my algae. They really only eat certain types of algae and not always the one you want them to eat. They also DO poop a lot so that is something to consider.


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[Coursair]

How long are you running lights ? Try reducing light to 6 hours and keep water clean and don't over feed.


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[Rolltide1980]

I run lights about 10 hours a day, run the moon glows about 2 hours

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[fishyd]

That's a little long. I run mine for 5 hours. 1530-2030. Still get some algae though. But have a gold nugget pleco in with my group of cichlids and he's left alone. They've never shown any interest in him.

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