Easy, hardy, fancy pleco suggestions

I say easy because I do not have a good success rate with plecos. For as many as Ive tried to raise I dont have much to show for it. Granted I think a few were undernourished and not healthy to begin with so understandable loss. A few others suffered at the hands of cichlid tankmates. Right now I have a not too common, but not to rare Rhino pleco in the 210 that is doing well and thriving. I want to eventually add another pleco tankmate or two and an considering something fancier. I have some ideas already but am looking for suggestions.

But here are the qualifiers,
1. Easy to keep, hardy, eats everything
2. Can NOT get HUGE - No Adonis Pleco or commons!
3. Not too small at full size - I have a Red Bay Snook now... pleco should get at least 8"+ so as not to be a meal

Thats pretty much it, any suggestions?

Here are three possible candidates:

L114 Leopard Cactus Pseudacanthicus cf. leopardus
L91 Three Beacon Leporacanthicus triactis
L014 Goldie, Sunshine Scobinancistrus aureatus

Here are a few option I could think of for fancy. I know you said nothing super big so the last one is probably out. Doesn't get 2 feet long but still big.

Peckoltia sabaji L124 (~9.8")
Blue Panaque L239 (~3")
Green Phatom L200 (~6")
Royal Pleco L191 (~16") LARGE!

Ive tried a royal once before and lost it. Brought it home from the store and it had ich. It died during treatment and I could just not move myself to get another. The L124 I would consider, I like the pattern and size. The L200 are pretty cool looking but a tad on the small side, same with L239.

I am heading down to Portland at the end of the month and am checking out what The Wet Spot has on their list. The L124 is one along with the three I posted.

Look on aquabid. They show alot of what they have available in the store with pictures and prices. Then you can see the list on their site too. I wish I could get down there soon!

Well I have all 3, the 114 and 014 will cost you a small fortune.($40 @ 2") The 3 Beacon 091, is a cool hardy pleco that is fairly hardy. The 114 is not very hardy, and the Goldie is fairly delicate as well.

How about the para L075 max @ 10", or the Sultan L264 max @ 6" (may be a bit to small), or the green and/or blue phantom (L200/L128) max at 7", or the Royal L027 max @ 15" (a bit bigger than u wanted), or the vampire L029 max @ 10", or the blue eyed red fin L137 max @ 12". (just recently acquired one of these so not sure on the hardiness, seems to be doing well)

I love the vampire pleco, if I didn't already have a sailfin in one tank and 6 bristlenose in another I would get one.

Actually my pleco death rate is pretty bad. My first pleco was an L001 that was pretty big but died when I introduced two wild caught fish into my tank without first quarantining. I lost most of my tank from that horrible issue. Most likely a parasite. I then had tried some replacements which included a gibby, another L001, a sunshine which I think all succumbed to the parasite that was not quite gone from the tank. After completely breaking it down and bleaching it all out I killed the bug and have had a healthy tank for more than two years now. Lesson learned.

I also have managed to loose a few bristlenose due to aggression. In one tank a lone convict had nipped off the fins of four bristlenose and was starving them. Lost all but one that I rehomed.

So I am wanting to make sure that if I drop $50+ on a fish that I make a good choice.

No kidding! I don't blame you. I can't get rubberlip pleco's to live. Had good luck with any others I have had so far.

Madness wrote:Well I have all 3, the 114 and 014 will cost you a small fortune.($40 @ 2")  The 3 Beacon 091, is a cool hardy pleco that is fairly hardy.  The 114 is not very hardy, and the Goldie is fairly delicate as well.

See, thats the type of info I need.   

I would have thought the 114 would be hardy, brought it home and then killed it off. The three beacon is one I might consider then. I had a goldie for a short amount of time but I think it had got that horrible parasite issue from the WC fish incident. Not sure if I would try it again if it is that delicate.

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:No kidding! I don't blame you. I can't get rubberlip pleco's to live. Had good luck with any others I have had so far.

I never have tried those but Im sure I could kill them off too.

They are well known for hard to train to eat foods that aren't naturally found in their habitats. Wouldn't eat wafers or anything. Starved itself to death.

Was looking on planet catfish and saw a cool three beacon called a "tiger fin" variety. That one would be cool, but have never seen those type available.
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I have the Vampire, the Para, 3 beacon, king tiger in with my Cichs and Bichirs and they are doing very well.
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Cool pics!

My rhino does not get along with my bichirs. It has attacked them and sucked on them a little. Not that it is feeding on the slime coat just an attack with its sucker. Thats why Im going to move them out. The rhino also hates the hopplo cat and goes after him too. I was hoping I would fare better with another pleco who had a bit of body armor to it.

A Vampire will whoop that Rhino into shape. LOL

They do have the L240 at The Wet Spot, may check them out too. The Rhino is a totally cool pleco, with a nice sail fin, cool coloration and really cool little ridge on its head. It looks like a little Klingon fish. (yes that was a nerdy Star Trek reference) He is pretty active compared to what I read of some of these fancy types. He could use a little whoop on but the little guy gets it already from Porkchop. My Pearsei has figured out that if the pleco is out and in one place that it is sitting on a piece of food. porkchop will peck at his head to make him drop his food then eats it.

See thats where my Vampire's are different, they will get mad and attack the fish.   

That's because he thinks they are werewolves...

My old L001 would fight with my big Midas. He would head butt the cichlid to try and get it out of its 'special' hiding spot.

I had a common pleco that had gotten it's butt kicked by cichlids, plucked both eyes out and tried biting off his tail. Tail grew back, eye sockets sealed over. But I had it in with 2 female and 1 male angelfish. I had the females separated by a divider. That smart stinking blind pleco figured out how to swim over the top of the divider to get to the other side and eat the females eggs when she would lay! It was about a 4" pleco at the time he was doing it. They amaze me with what they can do.