Common Pleco

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Autumn

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 10, 2010
Messages
15
Location
USA
I guess this is sort of a continuum of my last thread, but I decided the other one was more of me being desperate for advice, but now things are settling and I'm learning to be a MUCH better fish caretaker.

The update: I've gotten the hang of using the siphon, I found a video on Youtube that demonstrated how easy it really is. So I've managed to get time to make water changes and clean the bottom of the tank about an average of once a week.

Also got a water-heater, it gets really cold here so that'll throw one worry off my list.

The things I still need are:
1. More plants (thinking about real ones, but not sure if I can grow them without him uprooting them and killing them.)

2. Driftwood (I read plecos REALLY like driftwood. I can't seem to find it at Walmart though, so I'm going to check when I look for Prime)

3. I need to take a sample of the water to Petco and get its pH levels tested (they offer it for free.) Walmart does have test strips, but I've heard they're inaccurate. They don't have any other test methods so Petco will have to do.

4. Either list him on craiglist or find a bigger tank. I've been moving stuff around in my room, going over my schedules and trying to calculate if I can manage the time to take care of him and if I can swing the money for it. I think I can, and so I really want to do the right thing and get him a bigger tank. 120 gallon minimum is what I'm looking for, but no one in my area on Craiglist is selling or looking to trade. I might check newspapers and such.

This begs the question, however; how long do I have? This little guy isn't 6 inches anymore. I recently measured him again and he's about 7 inches, give or take. The tank is 10 gallons.

I also wonder, will 2 or more water changes a week, consistently, be bad for him? I want to try and clean up this water REALLY bad, it's bugging me, but I don't want to harm him.

Here's some photos of him and you can see the water's color tint. The water's color hasn't changed much since I started siphoning, but I have removed a lot of waste from under the rocks. I feel really ashamed for not knowing and being fully prepared to take care of a tank before getting fish.

Thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate it.


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This guy as you know will get big, maybe even bigger than a 120gal tank. Although you want to keep him (and i would too because he really is a great looking fish) the best thing maybe for him is too A) Find him a pond B) Get a tank thats around 200 gal or C) take him back. Now you will be able to keep him for a while yet a couple of months. But yes to all those things you said, they love gnawing on the drfitwood and eating all the parasites and stuff.
I wouldnt be worrying if you were sipohoning twice a week. Plecos poo like crazy and with this guy getting bigger it is the best thing to stop Ammonia building up in the tank, so i say you doing a fine job at the moment :D
 
PETCO also uses the test strips for water testing - so no difference if you or they do the testing unless you get yourself an API test kit!
 
+1 on biweekly WCs being a good thing

I also agree with Jason about your options. When making this decision have in mind that there are many other species of plecos aside from the common one (hypostomus) and some dont grow bigger than 6 inches. Check both the common and albino bristlenoses and the rubber lip pleco. I have one each of those and they are awesome fish, the albino BN gets to about 4 inch so you can probably keep him in that 10gal. Plecos in general add significantly to the bioload because they poop a lot so something bigger than 10gal would be best.

TBH, if I were in your shoes, I'd find him a good home and get the smaller species of pleco. You can still upgrade your tank anyway.

Also, if you decide to get a bigger tank, get a python if you don't have one it is well worth it for those bigger tanks.
 
A 7" pleco in a 10g is really too much already. That yellow tint in your water is actually fish urine. You'd be best off rehoming the fish if you're not getting a larger tank in the immediate future. A common pleco will get too large for a 120g even.

Constant water changes won't hurt if you're using dechlorinator and the water parameters don't change wildly. Discus people do daily PWCs sometimes.
 
I love Plecos but i to didnt no about fish very much until after i bought 2 common plecos. One is bout a foot long and the other is like 7 inches. But i do have a 75 Gal but they get huge and take up a huge bio load. But he deffinately needs to find a new home or a new bigger tank. P.S It was absolutely hillarious when my mom tried syphoning water got in her mouth and all over the place.So i always do it. :D
 
Wow, I didn't realize they'd need that much space. I'm glad I'm doing everything right so far, and I do love the little guy. You're right, though, I don't have a pond nor 200 gallon tank. I'll see about listing him this weekend on craiglist and I'll talk to some friends, see if they might know anyone who can have him. Thanks so much for the input. :]
 
there's a few dwarf species of pleco. if you're in the atlanta area, i have some driftwood you can have.. it's a small piece, enough to fit in a 10 gallon .

i currently have 3 13" plecos and they're great! 2 in a 125, 1 in a 75.

the 125 also houses 2 dwarf plecos and i have a 20 with 2 babies in it.. they are such a fun fish, SO territorial it''s kinda funny.

Don"t beat yourself up too bad about it. plenty of people house fish in some godawful conditions and don't even care if the fish is happy or not. you're a great pet owner, kudos to you for finding out about your pet and trying your hardest to make it better :)
 
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