good pleco for my cichlid tank?

[froggygirl37]

I have a 55 which has a few yellow labs, a white socolofi and a rusty cichlid. Theyre all about 3 inches now and i want to add a pleco before they get too big.

What are some good kinds to look at?

 

[carlt54]

I've used clown pleco's and bushy nose plecos in my tanks.They dont get to big and are quite hardy.

 

[Ukdans1k]

Have you thought about a catfish instead? I have synodontis petricola in my Malawi tanks, they look good and clean up the messy.

 

[froggygirl37]

No, but ill deffinitely look at the catfish i like the idea

The bushy nose also looks nice! Im heading to the store later to take a look and ill see then what i end up with
Thanks for the ideas

 

[joel618]

I have both syno petricola and b.n. pleco. I love them both and they have gotten along well w my cichlids for over year now. Make sure when you add the new fish to keep the room dark, i usually try to keep the lights out for a couple of hours before i add any new fish.

 

[froggygirl37]

Ill be sure to keep it dark

 

[Fishfriends]

why exactly does one want to keep the lights out when you add fish? Is the light what stresses them perhaps?

 

[AfricanCichlid]

why exactly does one want to keep the lights out when you add fish? Is the light what stresses them perhaps?

the light stresses the fish out so you want to keep it dark for about 30 min

 

[Maxkolbe]

+1 for bristle nose Pleco/syndontis I have both and their great. Another piece of advice, you may want to rescape the aquarium when adding new fish as the cichlids may terrorize it when defending their territories, you don't NEED to, I got away with adding a syno without rescaping but if you don't mind it's worth it, especially when buying other cichlids. Probably somewhat less with catfish

 

[joel618]

why exactly does one want to keep the lights out when you add fish? Is the light what stresses them perhaps?

It also chills out the preexisting fish so they wont harass the new one when trying to protect their territory.

 

[froggygirl37]

I got the bristlenose today, rearanged and introduced him in the dark. The cichlids swim right by him like hes not there, and hes happily munching away on some algae even found himself his own cave!

 

[Newguy5]

Green dragon Pleco's are really neat looking and don't get overwhelmingly big like your common pleco

 

[Slade]

I have a 55 gallon mbuna tank with yellow labs & socolofi, and have also been planning to add a catfish. I found a Synodontis eupterus in my LFS I want to add. I have two BN plecos in my community tank with tiger barbs & tetras, but have heard the synos have more similar requirements with mbuna than the BNs do.
Good luck with your BN. In either case, make sure there are caves.

 

[garfy]

Have you thought about a catfish instead? I have synodontis petricola in my Malawi tanks, they look good and clean up the messy.

+1 on this I have 4 syno's in with my mbuna and haps and they are a great clean up crew with plenty of personality.Pleco's IMO are messy fish and I shall be rehoming my 2 very soon because of this.