Question for Pleco experts please!

[zimer34]

Hello everyone-
I'm in the processes of selecting what type of fish I'd like to keep in my new 90 gallon aquarium. I'm going to create a freshwater community tank and have recently become very interested in plecos. Everything I've read up until very recently has led me to believe that most plecos are very peaceful and a great addition to the community aquarium.

That being said I have heard some negative things recently about keeping more than one species of pleco in your tank for issues with asserting dominance and fighting each other. Since I plan on having a community tank mainly comprised of tetras from around the world I'm not so worried about size requirements in a 90 gallon tank. I've purposely selected plecos that grow no larger than 6-7 inches max. With all the color variety that is available I was planning on getting a:
Albino Bristlenose
Suckermouth (Smaller Variety)
Golden Nugget
Starry Night
Thomasi
and just as a side note a Reticulated Hillstream Loach.

Obviously with the expensive nature of plecos I'm not interested in plecos killing plecos....or any other fish in my tank for that matter. Am I making a mistake by putting all these plecos in the same tank? Do I need to compromise and just select one single pleco for my 90 gallon? I really appreciate your help

 

[reefdiver]

You can try a clown. They are small too.

 

[zimer34]

You can try a clown. They are small too.

I apologize...I tend to write too much and then my questions get lost... Clowns are nice, but my question is:

Obviously with the expensive nature of plecos I'm not interested in plecos killing plecos....or any other fish in my tank for that matter. Am I making a mistake by putting all these plecos in the same tank? Do I need to compromise and just select one single pleco for my 90 gallon? I really appreciate your help

 

[Bud]

My understanding is yes, you would need to keep it to one. In a 90 gallon, I would like to think that they could find their own areas if you had two. But, you're probably a lot better off with just one. Their bio-load is huge too...wouldn't want too many in there anyway. If you're looking for a clean up crew, how about some otos and shrimp?

 

[ejaramillo01]

I apologize...I tend to write too much and then my questions get lost... Clowns are nice, but my question is:

Obviously with the expensive nature of plecos I'm not interested in plecos killing plecos....or any other fish in my tank for that matter. Am I making a mistake by putting all these plecos in the same tank? Do I need to compromise and just select one single pleco for my 90 gallon? I really appreciate your help

I also suggest you to get one, they are really effective cleaners, with the number that you are thinking, they will be overcrowded with no enough algae in your tank for all. I know that they can eat wafers or pellets, but they enjoy a lot to be just chewing on everything in the tank.

 

[candy775]

i use to have a 90 gallon and i also put two plecos in it just because of the amount of algae growth i had going on. and if there's not enough algae in the tank feed them zucchini once a week and algae wafers.

 

[Bud]

One is the way to go. The zucchini is a good idea anyway, even if there is enough to eat. I feed my fish a slice at least once a week. They tear it up.

 

[candy775]

mine never did tear the zucchini up. my sail fin pleco sits right on top of it and eats it off of a stainless steel fork and my clown pleco does the same thing too.

 

[Bud]

Suppose that was a figure of speech. What I meant was they eat it rather voraciously. The BN Pleco, the cories and even my barbs will all go after it as soon as it's dropped in. I use a small chip clip to sink it down too, btw.

 

[candy775]

Hello everyone-
I'm in the processes of selecting what type of fish I'd like to keep in my new 90 gallon aquarium. I'm going to create a freshwater community tank and have recently become very interested in plecos. Everything I've read up until very recently has led me to believe that most plecos are very peaceful and a great addition to the community aquarium.

That being said I have heard some negative things recently about keeping more than one species of pleco in your tank for issues with asserting dominance and fighting each other. Since I plan on having a community tank mainly comprised of tetras from around the world I'm not so worried about size requirements in a 90 gallon tank. I've purposely selected plecos that grow no larger than 6-7 inches max. With all the color variety that is available I was planning on getting a:
Albino Bristlenose
Suckermouth (Smaller Variety)
Golden Nugget
Starry Night
Thomasi
and just as a side note a Reticulated Hillstream Loach.

Obviously with the expensive nature of plecos I'm not interested in plecos killing plecos....or any other fish in my tank for that matter. Am I making a mistake by putting all these plecos in the same tank? Do I need to compromise and just select one single pleco for my 90 gallon? I really appreciate your help

my two plecos (1 clown and 1 sailfin) are in the same tank and they don't after each. I don't see it being a problem having two in a 90 gallon tank as long as they are content. if you go with a clown pleco you have to make sure it has well treated drift wood in the tank cause that is a clown plecos main source of food.