Koi Fish Information Centre

I got my first common pleco when I adopted a severely overstocked 10G tank back in 2005 and I did a ton of research and forum posting in PlecoFanatics to figure out what kind I had and what he needed… which is how I learned so much about them.
He was in that 10G tank for 2 years along with two blue gouramis, a 1/2 school of zebra danios and a 1/2 school of albino buenos aires tetras. He was about 4″ plus tail at that point, the gouramis were only 3″ but the danios and tetras were not stunted very much.. at least not as noticeable since they are smaller fish anyhow. It was over 100G worth of fish stuck in a 10G for two years and she had other fish die including 1/2 of each school of ZD’s and tetras… but somehow the remaining fish were surviving but she was losing them often enough that she knew she needed to find them a new home with more space.
I split them up into a 30G, a 20G and a 65G and they all did well and even made it through Katrina when I had no power for 14 days and no fresh water for 5 weeks but over the past few years, they slowly died off one by one… except for the Pleco… to various illnesses which I attribute to their having weakened immune systems from being crammed in that 10G for two years.. The gouramis never did grow any more even after giving them the 30G tank but the pleco, in the 65G, grew to over 10″ over the next two years and I finally had to rehome him last year by trading him in at the LFS. After Katrina, I had to downsize my home so I didn’t have room for the BIG tank I wanted for him. The LFS gave me $25.00 store credit for him and sold him the next day.. probably for twice that amount to someone with a 200G cichlid tank so hopefully he’ll continue to grow into a big old 24″ long fish.
I now have a juvi Clown Pleco in the 65G but they only grow to around 5″ so at least I won’t have to rehome him when he reaches adult size.
If your common plecos are in a tank with fancy goldfish, make sure you give them plenty to eat after lights out since they are omnivores and need protein in their diet. They have been known to attach to slow swimming wide-body fish like fancy goldfish, angelfish, etc… when they’ve been starved by folks thinking all they needed to eat was algae. It doesn’t happen often but it has been reported on a regular basis in forums. Most often, it’s due to not feeding them enough. Regular goldfish and Koi are less susceptible to this problem since they are faster swimmers but it’s still good to make sure your pleco’s get the proper diet. A piece of driftwood is almost mandatory in a tank with most plecos. They will suck onto the driftwood and gnaw on it for hours and they actually eat it as you will see them with strings of poop coming out while they hang onto the driftwood. Speaking of strings of poop.. watch what happens when you give them a nice slice of zucchini… mine latched onto the zucchini and didn’t stop until it was just a thin layer of skin. Then he promptly decorated all the plants with long strands of pleco poop. LOL
It would be a good idea to put a heater in the tank and slowly, over the course of a couple of weeks, bring the water temp up to at least 72F which is the bottom temp zone for common pleco’s and it’s at the upper temp zone for the goldfish so at least everyone will be somewhat comfortable. I wouldn’t raise it more than 1F per day since the goldfish have been at the lower temp for so long. This would give them time to acclimate to the higher temp which will raise their metabolism so they might need more to eat.
I use Hikari Algae Wafers as an extra food for the pleco, which although called algae wafers, are actually 45% protein, and feed them an hour after lights out so the pleco can munch on them without too much bother from other fish.
Here’s a good article and thread of pleco feeding. http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11018
And some common veggies that plecos like and most goldfish and Koi like veggies also. http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31574
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com

Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society