PlanetCatfish.com

Hey everyone, I'm new here and had a couple questions. A friend of mine recently set up and cycled a 26 gallon bow front aquarium. She's always had a soft spot for the various pleco species. At the moment she has 2 Bristle Nose Pleco's in there. I was wondering if there were any other small pleco species that work well in that size of tank and also get along with her current catfish? A clown pleco purhaps? Any help would be much appreciated!

Yes you could put a mix of small pleco's...ancistrus,small panaques or hypancistrus species but I have always found a single species tank with a group of the same species both interesting and more rewarding as you also have the possibility of having the spawning process take place and ending up with some young. There could be a schooling species of fish in the mid or upper levels as well. This size tank would be great for such a setup.When you start mixing species then you have to really be aware of the various diet requirements for each.

Birger

Ah, I see. I didn't consider diet requirements. Although I know not all pleco's are algae eaters, I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to supplement everyone fairly equally. Thanks for the heads up. As for a species tank, thats certainly another option I hadn't considered. I don't know how intent on having a wide variety of catfish my friend is, but I will be sure to run this past her. She is somewhat new to fish keeping though, so I'm not sure if she'd be interested in breeding. Although I'm sure she'd find it really exciting, I'm not sure if she could handle catching fry and moving them to new homes and all that sort of stuff. Just wondering, how many pleco's do you think would be able to work in that size tank? I'm sure it varies depending on species, but I was just wondering if there was a ballpark answer. Thanks again.