Orandas and Pleco

[Barbs]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a bit of advice please. I'm thinking of getting a pleco but before I do I'd like to know if it can be kept with fancy Goldfish? I have 3 orandas and 1 calico pearlscale in a 180litre tank. There's quite a bit of algae and I thought a pleco might help with this. I have researched a bit about it but find conflicting advice. I've read the pleco might suck on goldfish but on the other hand a lot of people seem to keep them with goldfish!!! The selection in the lfs here isn't great so I guess I'll end up with a common pleco if I do decide to buy one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Barbs.

 

[Jchillin]

I wouldn't. Pleco's enjoy warmer temps than goldies do.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i agree there. goldfish are coldwater fish where plecos are tropical. heck many plecos like temps a lot of fish cant even handle. many of them love 85-90 temps.

 

[jsoong]

There are only 2 pleco that may be considered compatible with goldfish. <And that is assuming that you run your tank in the mid 70's for your fancies.>

A purist may quibble & insists on goldies be in species only tank. however, many (including me) had no problems keeping golds with Bristlenose or Rubberlip plecos. Both are dwarf varieties & won't get too big. <But you are pushing the load limit of your 180l tank if you decide to add one.> Definitely avoid common plecos (they get too big & will suck on the slime coat), and the Otos (too small, goldfish will try to eat it & the Oto's spine will cause it to be stuck in the gold's throat, killing both fish.)

If you are strictly looking at algae control, a better option may be some nerite snails (hard to find), as I find my pleco fairly ineffecient at the clean up.

 

[Barbs]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've taken your advice and decided against getting a pleco, I think I'll just stick to manually removing the algae! I've never come across a bristlenose or rubberlip here, so unfortunately I won't be able to get one of those and the common ones the lfs sells are out of the question now due to reasons stated. I'll look out for the nerite snail but chances of finding one are slim and none too, but you never know. I appreciate everyone's advice and honesty, you've just saved me from making a big mistake!