Seen any good plecos around.

Well with the recent outbreak of what I am calling "the plague" going around and killing fish off. I ended up losing my three year old L001 pleco. This was a smaller type of sailfin that I really enjoyed having in the tank. Very outgoing, going to miss him.

So while I am seeing whats left after this disaster I am looking at new pleco possibilities. I am growing out some bristlenose i my 29g but they are pretty small. So has anyone seen any interesting plecos at any of the stores out there? If so what was it and where was it.

One of the posters on here had a L014 for sale. It looks pretty cool.

madness wrote:One of the posters on here had a L014 for sale. It looks pretty cool.

That would be Zerc, who is also have issues in his tank right now.

Oh, well scratch that pleco off my list when I have the funds.

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I have one just like that... for the moment.

I love the look of the royals. Would eat up my wood in no time flat from what I hear.

Zerc would love your pleco. But will wait until my water isssues are worked out before I begin to add fish. Did you check your water parameters yet?

I posted this now because expensive plecos seem to sit in stores for a longer amount of time, so by the time my water issues are ironed out I will be ready to buy one.

DMD123 wrote:I love the look of the royals. Would eat up my wood in no time flat from what I hear.

I had as many as a dozen of these chewing on my bog wood, didn't notice the wood look any smaller since I got em back in April. I have 3 left. I still think the royals are the top dozen must have..they used to be one of my best seller back in 2008 before closing up the fishroom.

By the way, that is my ad on craigslist...

By the way, I may be at the GSAS christmas party next month...I think wed dec 14th..

Here is a monkey wrench I will throw in, would love for the pleco to be active, not just a lump.

My L001 was very active and could hold its own against the cichlids. I have heard the gibbicep is also active (L083) and I really do like the sailfins.

Any recommendations for an active pleco? (dont want a common)

my royal is super active (took him a month or so to get there)

my l014 is a lump.

Well, he likes hiding under my giant pile of driftwood anyway. He only comes out when its dark. I imagine if he didn't have anything to hide under he would be more active.

I have a pretty large amount of wood in the tank so there are places to hide. I would even consider an albino gibbi because he would stick out like a sore thumb on my dark background, gravel and wood.

oh my "hiding under the driftwood" was in reference to the sunshine pleco not the royal. the royal is all over the place.

(i would suggest some longfin green dragons or longfin albino) if you get bristlenose. The downside being they dont get very big...

have you considered a fire eel?

I am leaning toward SA/CA fish as my community.

they get along with them

I know.

Just dont like to mix and match. I am just weird that way.

hah, fair enough.

Zerc wrote:oh my "hiding under the driftwood" was in reference to the sunshine pleco not the royal. the royal is all over the place.

(i would suggest some longfin green dragons or longfin albino) if you get bristlenose. The downside being they dont get very big...

I have 3 regular albinos and 3 (calico ?) bristlenose growing out in my 29g so I could just move them over when things clear up.

i saw a calico a few days ago at apfp, i like them, maybe more than albino.

At least I think they are a calico. They came from Betty and are very nice healthy little guys. The have an interesting color mix that makes me think calico. What ever they are, they are very nice little plecos with one getting some bristles on him.

Still looking for a suitable pleco for my big tank.

I think I have eliminated the idea of putting any of the bristlenose growouts in there, I just think they are too small and might not be able to handle themselves. But then again they share a 29g tank with a psycho, hyperactive male convict, so I am not so sure if it might not work.

I have found some gibby's (L083) which are very large sailfins which I really like the looks of, are pretty cheap because they are from petsmart but the potential of a 17" pleco is too much.

I also have seen some Albino Chocolate's which again are cheap but get huge also from what Ive read.

One has caught my eye, a rhino pleco which is a smaller type that get around 10" and is an omnivore that sounds like it might be able to do well with cichlids. $25 for a 4" one, and they are kind of bland looking.

So I am still on the hunt, looking for a pleco that hits 10-12", not super shy, can handle themselves around cichlids and about $20 max. I am just picky, picky picky....

Well if you guys see anything out there let me know.

$20! come and get him!

Zerc wrote:$20! come and get him!

Did you manage to figure out what was going on in the tank and get it fixed? I thought I had and still just recently lost 2 silver dollars. I am reluctant to add any expensive fish still but might consider your pleco just due to size. My little fish will grow pretty quick so I almost need to get a pleco a little bigger to give it a fighting chance.

I "think" it was an ammonia spike. i cleaned my filters november 3rd or so and I was not as careful as i should have been cleaning the sponges, so i probably killed most of the bacteria. (thankfully the rest of the media was ok). All the fish are eating and active now.

I also bough a test kit a week ago, but if it was a spike its gone now.

yes, a REAL test kit!

Zerc, thanks for the Pleco. Glad to have something in the tank to clean up after all the cichlids. Nice to have met you and the family! Very nice fish you have, keep up the good work!

Here he is, promptly settled in and hid.
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Very nice, thanks again Zerc!

Thanks D, I hope he likes his new home!

So, I have justified a "new fish" already! But I have to wait... the festae/bleekeri would NOT appreciate a fire eel just yet I think... maybe in a month or three!