Will a Pleco 'fit in' my Cichlid Community?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

DoubleA

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
90
Location
Northern Colorado
I have a 46 gallon Cichlid tank which contains 12 various Cichlids (Electric Yellow, Demasoni, and one other type forgot the name). All are fairly small, largest being 2 1/2 - 3".

The tank is well built-up with lace rock providing plenty of hiding spaces.

Currently these are the only variety of fish in the tank, I wanted to know if adding a Snowball Pleco would be a good fit or bad idea. My significant other spotted one of these :rolleyes: and insists on having one.

Would changing the arrangement of the rocks make any difference?
 
Normally they don't bother them. If it was me I'd try to sneak it in at night because I don't care what you throw in they will introduce them selves. But they will more than likely just go up to it and then leave.
 
I'm never a fan of mixing plecos and africans. Especially not fancy plecos. Synodontis cats are a much better option.
 
Dan Jones said:
I'm never a fan of mixing plecos and africans. Especially not fancy plecos. Synodontis cats are a much better option.

Common plecos or bristlnose plecos are the only only ones i would recommend
 
Synodontis catfish are nocturnal and very active. So when the cichlids are trying to sleep, the catfish will be bouncing off the walls and disturbing the cichlids.
 
As far as cleaning up waste food goes yes they will.Dont be under the illusion that a pleco will keep your tank sparkling clean.In my experience they don't eat as much algae as you'd think and surprisingly they seem to eat less and less as they get bigger.most of the time pleco's seem to just lie in the same spot and their fins can take a hammering with Africans.
 
Good looking catfish! :D Tough to find though, been calling LFS's, sounds like they'd have to special order it.. boo
 
Good looking catfish! :D Tough to find though, been calling LFS's, sounds like they'd have to special order it.. boo

About Fish, in Westminster on Federal Blvd., usually has petricolas for cheaper than I've ever seen 'em. I have several I picked up there, they've a customer who breeds 'em. Julie at Golden Aquarium, on West Colfax in Denver, is always cycling different synodontis through the store. That would be another possible source.

The common BN plecos average 4"-5", so ya could put a couple in your tank. I generally recommend avoiding plecos with Africans. As was pointed out, the cichlids like to pick at the fins.

WYite
 
A Little tough for me to get down to denver. I can't exactly justify the use of gas for some fish to the lady of the house LOL. Maybe I can sweeten her up though, her B-day is in a couple weeks...

Do you think it would be worth it to try calling a LFS in Fort Collins (much closer to me) and have them special order some? Would they charge an extra order fee or a high price for the fish for doing so?

As far as the Pleco's, Thanks for the info, I'm sure they will be perfectly content to stay in my community tanks with the much friendlier rasboras and ghost shrimp :)
 
A Little tough for me to get down to denver. I can't exactly justify the use of gas for some fish to the lady of the house LOL. Maybe I can sweeten her up though, her B-day is in a couple weeks...

Pick a nice restaurant, tell her yer plannin' a special B-day dinner, and then on yer way down say, "Oh yeah, BTW, do ya mind if we stop at..." :) I hear ya, I only get down to Denver a coupla times a year. Mrs. WYite knows better than to stand between me and and my hobby, though, and wouldn't argue the point with me as long as it wasn't a monthly excursion.

Do you think it would be worth it to try calling a LFS in Fort Collins (much closer to me) and have them special order some? Would they charge an extra order fee or a high price for the fish for doing so?

Both Great White Aquatics and D&G Pets in Fort Collins have told me they'd see if they could get fish for me, and when I check back a few days or a week later they have excuses as to why they don't have any info yet. It's happened time and time again, so I don't even try anymore. I'm only in Cheyenne and offered to pay their cost as a down payment, basically removin' the risk for them, and some of the fish I've requested have not been extremely hard to get, so I've lost faith in both those shops. You may have better luck, especially if ya bug 'em and make yer face familiar. I only get down to Fort Collins every other month or so if I don't have a specific reason.

Animal Attraction in Greeley is a very nice shop, nicer than either LFS in Fort Collins, IMO, and the staff is great. I haven't tried to have them special order anything for me. Dependin' on where yer at, ya might have some luck there.

As far as the Pleco's, Thanks for the info, I'm sure they will be perfectly content to stay in my community tanks with the much friendlier rasboras and ghost shrimp :)

They will be. :)

WYite
 
I'm in Loveland. Yeah, I got that feeling from those shops already. I tried having Great White Aquatics special order a certain Pleco for me, they said SURE WE'LL ADD IT TO OUR NEXT ORDER... never heard back from them...

D&G is now my shop of choice, after only 1 visit, if only because their selection has been greater and the fish, although slightly more expensive, appear to be much better taken care of and all-around healthier. Also great customer service, the guys that were working last time I went in, were extremely helpful and patient with my picky self :D Hell, I think they liked me, they asked me 3 times during my visit if I had a resume and wanted to work there :p
 
A common pleco will be too large and create too much waste. Bristle nose should be ok. They only get like 1/4 of the size of a common pleco. There was talk about a synopsis cat..... great choice imo
 
Decided against any sort of Pleco. I'm not to fond of the bristlenose variety either. I'll be going with 2-3 Synodontis Petricola instead :) Whenever I can find some... none of the LFS seem to have any in stock. Was considering aquabid, but the only auction I found for them that wasn't a quantity of 9 or more, had only USPS priority shipping which would take 2-3 days and I'm worried if they'd make it that long...
 
Back
Top Bottom