Is My Plec Too Big For His Tank?

Hi there, I'm a forum newbie. Had some tropical fish when I was younger but then none for years, until a friend at work happened to mention he wanted rid of his tank (including fish) so I jumped at the chance for a cheap tank! Its an Interpet River Reef 94L tank, with a lovely large plec, but 'm worried he's too big for the tank. Tank measures 41.5cm(h) x 50cm(w) x 41.5cm(d), he's about 19cm/7.5ins. Occasionally he seems a bit agitated and suddenly swims to the surface, seems to gulp some air and then settle back on bottom. Is he miserable? Do I need to re-home him or is he just a bit of a grouch? Any advice would be much appreciated!

The swimming up to the surface and grabbing a mouthful of air is quite normal; most catfish get some of their oxygen by absorbing it through the gut wall, so that's nothing to worry about.

In general, large fish like plecs need a tank that is 4 or 5 times their length and twice their length for width and height, but you should work that out based on the eventual adult size of the fish, not what it is now, but for that we'd need to know what species he is.

If you can manage to put up a pic of him we can identify him for you and tell you what size tank he'll need, long term, but if he's a common plec you'll almost certainly have to re-home him as he could grow to about a foot long; maybe 18 inches.

From the bit of research I did i thought he was a common pleco. Pictures aren't great but here he is. How would I go about rehoming him?


And here he is a bit closer up

Aww, bless him. Definitely a common plec and does need rehoming, I'm afraid

You could try advertsiing him on Aquarist Classified or Preloved or ask in your LFS; if they won't take him, maybe they know someone who can.

Yikes! He certainly does need a larger home. They are beautiful, though, aren't they? I love their prehistoric look.

Yeah I'm gutted to be getting rid of him, he's a beautiful specimen. What should I replace him with? Do bristlenose plecs stay smaller?

ellejay said:

Yeah I'm gutted to be getting rid of him, he's a beautiful specimen. What should I replace him with? Do bristlenose plecs stay smaller?

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Yep bristlenoses should be fine.
You could also look here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/132656-30-plecos-under-8-inches/

Just a thought...how old is this plec? If several years old it may be stunted and won't grow any bigger. I have a common plec that is barely 8in long. It's at least 9 years old now. Had it for 18months and it hasn't grown at all.

fishnovice said:

Just a thought...how old is this plec? If several years old it may be stunted and won't grow any bigger. I have a common plec that is barely 8in long. It's at least 9 years old now. Had it for 18months and it hasn't grown at all.

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Argh fishnovice how big is your tank? I suspect your common might have been stunted before you bought it.

Plecostomos Fan said:

ellejay said:

Yeah I'm gutted to be getting rid of him, he's a beautiful specimen. What should I replace him with? Do bristlenose plecs stay smaller?

Click to expand...

Yep bristlenoses should be fine.
You could also look here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/132656-30-plecos-under-8-inches/

Click to expand...

Ooh thanks for the link that list is brilliant, gave me some good ideas. Fishnovice... I think he's 2 or 3 years old, but even if he stopped growing I think he's already too big for my tank