What Plecos work well in planted tank?

[andy51632]

Can anybody give me some ideas on Plecos that I can put in my planted tank? I don't want one that is to big because of my cardinal tetras. I like the gold nugget pleco and the snowball but did not know if they will shred my plants and if I can have more then one in the same tank.

Andy

 

[rhymeswithbear]

zebra pleco

 

[rhymeswithbear]

But ah... they might be a little pricey... if you can find one....

 

[andy51632]

Yeah, I looked at them, they are awesome until I saw the $200 price tag. Do you know some place that is cheaper?

 

[rhymeswithbear]

they are cheaper on aquabid...but still cost more than all my other fish combined....

 

[greenmaji]

The only zebra pleco's on aquabid is a trio of F1(first generation bread in captivity) juvi's for currently $335.00 this might be a little expensive! ROFL
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcatfish&1122608597

 

[rhymeswithbear]

Well... I saw one there for $80 once.....there was also a group of 20 wild caught that were currently at 2k

here's an old one... http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwcatfish1122171922

after shipping that little fishy would cost ya $160...without even meeting reserve price

 

[Toirtis]

Bristlenose are pretty safe with plants, as are queen arabesque plecos.

 

[BillD]

i believe also the one that is known as rubbernose. Keep in mind thet some of these fish we class as plecos don't eat alga,and are predominantly meat eaters, such as the zebra, and will not clean your tank of alge. Bristlenose do like algae, as well as lettuce and zuchini. Bristlenose are reputed to be safe with plants, but I have to wonder about that when you see how fast they can consume a large Romaine leaf.

 

[Zagz]

I have a gold nugget pleco and he is fine with the plants. Also I've read that zebra plecos aren't the best algae eaters. Don't know how true that is though.

 

[aqh88]

Depends if you want a good algae eater or just a pleco to look at. I did like my goldnugget but he was far too agressive. He attacked anything that came in his territory. Now I have a royal pleco in the 55g going to the 90g and 5 leopard plecos(L134) in my tanks. None of those are the greatest algae eaters. Although the gold nugget kept his cave clean and the leopard plecos aren't too bad about cleaning the glass. Zebras are more carnivorous than algae eating.

 

[madasafish]

The guy who was selling those large auctions of Zebra Plecos was a fraud. (I believe we're talking about the same auctions.) He never shipped them from Germany, and made a killing by tricking trusting aquarists. As far as I could tell, he created a second personna a few weeks later (Zebrazucht) and did the same thing again. I almost got gypped the first time. Careful in the future!!!!

Plecos in planted tanks are a bit of a tough issue. I'd immediately recommend the albino plecos (no L number), and regular bristlenoses, because these are some of the most vegetarian of plecos. But even these have a tendency to knock out tenuously-planted stems as they scoot around the bottom of the tank.

Carnivorous plecos such as the gold nuggets, and some of the Hypancistrus species (Zebra, King Tiger, Queen Arabesque) somtimes wreak havoc on large-leafed plants (Amazon sword, Anubias especially) because they have quite powerful teeth that tear through the plant and leave tell-tale circular holes. That said, I have Majestic King Tigers (L333), Queen Arabesques (L-260), Orange-Spotteds (LDA-31), and a few other plecos in my 125 planted tank, and I just grin and bear the occasional damage to the large-leafed plants, because they are such darned beautiful animals.