Adding Plecos to a Mature 75g Community

[darrylzuk]

Hi everyone, I've been a long-time lurker on these forums, but finally created an account to solicit some advice. I have a 75g community tank Amazon biotope(ish) tank. I say "-ish" because it's probably a little too heavily planted to fit nicely into one of the biotopes. I have lots of different tetras, some angels, apistos (not sure how many because they keep breeding), some corydoras, a clown pleco, and a leopard frog pleco.

I was planning to add a school of hatchet fish (haven't pulled the trigger yet) and saw some nice looking plecos at the store as well. Everyone gets along fine, and I don't want to disrupt the harmony, so I wanted to get opinions on if I could even add a third small pleco species, or if it would be a bad idea. I have plenty of hiding spaces, and between the two canister filters I run and all the plants growing in and out of the tank, I haven't had any water quality or bioload issues.

The two plecos I was interested in are the Flash/Pinstripe Pleco (L204) and the Gold Tiger Pleco (LDA01). Both stay around the size of my current plecos, and all four species are described as peaceful. However, I know males can get territorial, especially when they look similar. Which leads into the second question. Are these species too similar looking to each other, or is there enough differentiation? Would it be better, assuming the consensus is I could house another small pleco, to look for something vastly different looking?

Thanks!

[Jools]

I think either would be fine in your set-up because you are buying single fish and feeding/ care requirements are all OK. Things to think about are:

1. Both these fish will eat plants. I know the clown pleco will also eat plants and maybe this isn't a problem.

2. L204 is a much larger growing pleco eventually. It will be OK territorially, but it will get more and more destructive with increased size.

3. If a suitable cave/structure is available there is a small risk of hybridisation between the two species of

Panaqolus

.

HTH,

Jools

[emanuel]

I agree with Jools. Perhaps one of the many Hypancistrus species would be more suitable, because they don't eat plants.

[darrylzuk]

I think either would be fine in your set-up because you are buying single fish and feeding/ care requirements are all OK. Things to think about are:

1. Both these fish will eat plants. I know the clown pleco will also eat plants and maybe this isn't a problem.

2. L204 is a much larger growing pleco eventually. It will be OK territorially, but it will get more and more destructive with increased size.

3. If a suitable cave/structure is available there is a small risk of hybridisation between the two species of

Panaqolus

.

HTH,

Jools

Hi Jools, thanks for your response. I didn't get any notifications that my post had gotten any response, so I'm just checking back now. I haven't had any issues with the clown eating plants (at least I don't think) but even if they do eat plants, I see it as less aquascaping for me to have to do!

I do have some true caves (ceramic that look like stone) and lots of nooks and crannies in the hardscaping and driftwood, but they are usually claimed by the apistogramma. I started with 1 male and one female, and now have 1 male (not the original) and a bunch of females. They seem to be really good at surviving in the leaf litter. In the off chance I have a male and female that decide to mate, and the babies survive... I will cross that bridge when I get there, but thanks for pointing out the slight risk.

[darrylzuk]

I agree with Jools. Perhaps one of the many Hypancistrus species would be more suitable, because they don't eat plants.

Thanks emanuel, as I mentioned in my response to Jools, I'm okay if they eat some of my plants. They're all pretty inexpensive plants native to South America, and the tank is heavily planted, so a lawn mowing crew would be helpful.