New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

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magic8
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New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by magic8 »

Hello,
I am new to this site more importantly pleco's I have never owned them.I have experience with African cichlids and now barbs and tetras but not plecos.The reason for my post is I am looking to possibly add A pleco to my tank this is the info on my tank.I am hoping I am posting in the right spot I did not see A general discussion forum unless I overlooked it.

Time established:Going on over A year
Fish: (14) Diamond tetras 2-3" (12) black ruby barbs 2-3" (1) Rainbow Shark new addition 1 1/2" -2"
Tank : 65 gallon 3 foot version Glass versatop
Filter: Aquatop CF400UV
Substrate: Black river sand
Lighting: current sat plus pro
Heater: Yes tank sits about 75 degrees consistently
PH: consistently 7.2
Plants : Live any many,about 40%-45% of tank consisting of watersprites,amazon swords,(1) large crypt (1) very tall rotella added one small cave when adding the rainbow shark I had this when I kept africans the barbs did not bother with it but added it in when I got the shark and he has already begun hanging out in it.

I was on fishlore and basically my question there was about adding fish,I was asking about if more fish can be added to what I already have and most of the resposes back were to either add pleco's or Corys.I thought about cory's but really don't know how they will fair in my tank for two reasons

1) once the shark gets bigger I am afraid he will harass the cory's too much
2) the two groups of fish I have in the mid to upper levels are voracious eaters hardly any food ever reaches the bottom and the little that does reach the bottom it is quickly gobbled up by the ruby's so I am afraid cory's would not get much to eat.

So in the post I wrote on Fishlore alot of people suggested A Pleco as not that adding fish to the upper level was totally out but with A tank of two shoaling fish it would be difficult to add A third without overstocking A bit.

I honestly never thought about A pleco until it was mentioned fearing once the rainbow shark matured it would be in direct conflict with A pleco being so territorial but like many have mentioned over there A pleco would be in no danger because of its armor plating.

So here I am this website was suggested by someone over there if I was interested in learning more about plecos and what would fit what I am looking for.so I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction and give me some info.this is some things I am looking for in A pleco

1) can more than one be added one is fine just curious if they are like sharks and if two occupy the same tank will they fight
2) which pleco's can be put in with A rainbow shark taking into consideration the sharks adult size
3) A pleco that fits my tank criteria
4) I am looking for A pleco thats not going to break the bank high end may 30$ U.S
5) something that will stay around 6"-7" or smaller
6) something unique with some colors or pattern eX:gold nugget or zebra just throwing out suggestions these may not fit my tank parameters
7) I know most pleco's are nocturnal and hide when the lights are on some you don't ever see ex:bumblebee you never see I am told but I am looking for one that is not completely shy.I have A very active tank with my other fish so I would like to see my pleco out and about once in awhile
8)algae in my tank is not a major problem as my plants help to keep it under control but I do get some build up here and there is there one that better for eating algae than any others
9)lastly I've heard alot of people use driftwood for their plecos,I would rather not add anything to my water that is going to change its chemistry I have some ceramic logs and caves that I used when I had my africans my tetras & barbs don't use them so I took them out but would these be good homes for A pleco(s)

I know I have thrown alot of questions on this post but like I said I have absolutely no experience or knowledge about pleco's so I am hoping you can send some advice and ideas my way.

I think I covered everything you may need to know about my tank if you need more info please let m eknow.

Thank-you
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Lycosid
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Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by Lycosid »

I honestly never thought about A pleco until it was mentioned fearing once the rainbow shark matured it would be in direct conflict with A pleco being so territorial but like many have mentioned over there A pleco would be in no danger because of its armor plating.
Technically corys are also armor-plated. I'm also not sure how much that helps, though, against a species that primarily harasses other fish by ripping their fins. Plecos could certainly grow large enough to look like less tempting targets and aren't as active, and activity may draw attacks.
1) can more than one be added one is fine just curious if they are like sharks and if two occupy the same tank will they fight
They are not generally aggressive like the sharks, although I'm not a pleco expert, and I think there may be species where you may want to avoid, say, two males together.
2) which pleco's can be put in with A rainbow shark taking into consideration the sharks adult size
You can actually search the species lists here by size.
6) something unique with some colors or pattern eX:gold nugget or zebra just throwing out suggestions these may not fit my tank parameters
I'm going to suggest that you search by size and look at photos and then ask about those specific species (and hopefully someone with more pleco experience will answer, too). I'll point out that I think both the specific species you mention here are more expensive than your $30 limit. I've seen zebras for sale for more money than all my home tank equipment cost me.
9)lastly I've heard alot of people use driftwood for their plecos,I would rather not add anything to my water that is going to change its chemistry I have some ceramic logs and caves that I used when I had my africans my tetras & barbs don't use them so I took them out but would these be good homes for A pleco(s)
A lot of plecos seem to actually need to chew on driftwood from time to time for their health, and some species really rip it into chunks and ingest it (it's unclear whether they really eat it in the sense of digesting the wood itself - I've seen studies suggesting that they do and that they don't).

I'm not really able to answer the rest of your questions, but plecos are popular so I suspect someone can.
magic8
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Joined: 08 Feb 2017, 20:45
Location 1: LongIsland
Location 2: Newyork

Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by magic8 »

Thank-you I wound up picking up 2 clown plecos last night.one thing that I do not have presently is driftwood I did not realize that this is important for plecos.is driftwood absolutely necessary will it effect my ph by adding it?
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catfishchaos
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Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by catfishchaos »

magic8 wrote: 11 Feb 2017, 15:34 Thank-you I wound up picking up 2 clown plecos last night.one thing that I do not have presently is driftwood I did not realize that this is important for plecos.is driftwood absolutely necessary will it effect my ph by adding it?
For Clown plecos () Drift wood is not optional. These fish are from a genus that eats wood specifically and if you don't want drift wood in your tank I would avoid these and all member of the Panaque and Panaqolus groups.
I can stop keeping catfish whenever I want. I just don't think I'll ever want to do that...
magic8
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Location 2: Newyork

Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by magic8 »

So being I am not too keen on adding driftwood to my tank I swapped out the clowns for two rubbernose plecos I think they get about the same size.how are they with cleaning up algae I wipe down my tank during water changes with a magic eraser anyway just curious?
Halolady
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Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by Halolady »

I would actually go with a bristle nose pleco because they are cheap but very beautiful and they're full-grown they only grow 5incs I breed them all the time and they come out a lot in day time but i would make sure that you get two females if you don't want to breed them but if you only want one I would highly suggest a mail because they have a lot more patterns in my opinion any pluck out you actually do need some type a word because that's in their diet make sure that you get them vegetables once in a while because that gives them the protein that they need because just wafers analogy is not going to just cut it
dw1305
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Re: New to site and pleco's need advice on adding one

Post by dw1305 »

Hi all,
Lycosid wrote: 11 Feb 2017, 01:09A lot of plecos seem to actually need to chew on driftwood from time to time for their health, and some species really rip it into chunks and ingest it (it's unclear whether they really eat it in the sense of digesting the wood itself - I've seen studies suggesting that they do and that they don't).
We have a number of threads on this, hopefully with a definitive answer.

This is from McDonald, Ryan, et al. "Nitrogenase diversity and activity in the gastrointestinal tract of the wood-eating catfish Panaque nigrolineatus." The ISME journal 9.12 (2015): 2712-2724.
Our findings suggest that the P. nigrolineatus GI tract provides a suitable environment for nitrogen fixation that may facilitate production of reduced nitrogen by the resident microbial population under nitrogen limiting conditions. Whether this community is providing reduced nitrogen to the host in an active or passive manner and whether it is present in a permanent or transient relationship remains to be determined. The intake of a cellulose rich diet and the presence of a suitable environment for nitrogen fixation suggest that the GI tract microbial community may allow a unique trophic niche for P. nigrolineatus among fish.
This one is from 2013 <"Panaque gut microbes (http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 14&t=39264)"> has comments by Dr Joy Watts (one of the authors of the paper discussed), and this one from 2015 has comments by another of the authors (Dr Ryan McDonald) <"(viewtopic.php?f=14&t=42092)">.

These comment on the earlier work of Dr Donovan German, which are reported here <"Any Panaque papers (http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=32382)">.

cheers Darrel
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