Anyone know any good medium sized pleco species?

[SAChichlidLover]

Hi everyone! Back with another question sorry, I'm looking at plecos, I wanted to get two or three for my 80gal as I love them to pieces and as I have added more driftwood and cave systems I was hoping to add more bottom dwelling catfish and plecos just seem to be the most sensible choice as I already house a large syno. Tanks got a fair amount of american cichlids in there who are pretty settled with each other now. I'm just spoilt for choice in all honesty with plecos and I really dont know what would go best, at first I was gonna say three bristlenose but I kind of want to go for a bit of a different species as I already have a bristlenose in my community.. Apart from the hiding synodontis the bottom of the tank is mostly unpopulated with the exception of a geophagus and firemouth cichlids. I would of liked to have tried a sailfin pleco however they grow too large. I would go for an L number pleco but they are quite alot of money and wouldn't suit the tank. There is the option of me not even bothering and just trying whiptail catfish species as they would also fit the water conditions but I like plecos haha. Big reason I wanted plecos is because with me maintaining this tank like clockwork with large weekly water changes and gravel syphoning I'm sure I could handle the extra bioload produced also with the soon change to sand hopefully it will provide an even better environment for them. ps my girlfriend has also been begging me to get more plecos she loves them lol!

 

[Guyb93]

Medium sized pleco is a tough one as to me phantom plecos are medium at 8-11inches and 3 pleco could be a disaster with medium sized plecos as they can be aggressive with other pleco , I always recommend one pleco per tank mainly because of bio load and just cus the might not get on

 

[Circus]

If you are willing to risk multiple plecs in the tank, you could try rubberlip or clown plecos (depending on if they fit your water parameters).

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Medium sized pleco is a tough one as to me phantom plecos are medium at 8-11inches and 3 pleco could be a disaster with medium sized plecos as they can be aggressive with other pleco , I always recommend one pleco per tank mainly because of bio load and just cus the might not get on

I agree with the aggression, however I am willing to attempt it and take fish back if need be. I went for the magic number of 3 because I was going to try and get females as I know a few people who have had success with female trios with minimal aggression

Bioload wise, I was planning on adding a third means of filtration (hang on the back) as my sponge filters seem to not do the best job as I accidentally ordered the wrong size lol but they do a great oxygenising job!

 

[SAChichlidLover]

If you are willing to risk multiple plecs in the tank, you could try rubberlip or clown plecos (depending on if they fit your water parameters).

Luckily I actually preprepared for disaster and bought a 5gal hospital/qt tank and a 5 gal in aquarium breeding tank in case things turned real south with my cichlids but luckily I've only been near using one and not actually had to resort to this as it would be stressful for me and the fish untill I can return it to the store lol! I'll check out both pleco species though thank you, do you have any experience with either?

 

[Guyb93]

I agree with the aggression, however I am willing to attempt it and take fish back if need be. I went for the magic number of 3 because I was going to try and get females as I know a few people who have had success with female trios with minimal aggression

Bioload wise, I was planning on adding a third means of filtration (hang on the back) as my sponge filters seem to not do the best job as I accidentally ordered the wrong size lol but they do a great oxygenising job!

To be fair pleco aggression isn’t as hard as why we are used to keeping cichlids and can be spotted and sorted withou any real damage so I can understand trying to get multiple in the same tank , wht filtration are you using currently? Three forms of filtering could possibly be replaced with one good external filter I really rate the fx series by fluval self priming and offers a lot of surface area for bb , I went with the fx4 because I’m cheap lol

 

[kribensis12]

I have always loved Bristlenose Plecos. That'd be my suggestion but I see you have already thought it.

There are a lot of different variants of bristlenose - maybe you can find a new one that sparks your interest?

 

[SAChichlidLover]

To be fair pleco aggression isn’t as hard as why we are used to keeping cichlids and can be spotted and sorted withou any real damage so I can understand trying to get multiple in the same tank , wht filtration are you using currently? Three forms of filtering could possibly be replaced with one good external filter I really rate the fx series by fluval self priming and offers a lot of surface area for bb , I went with the fx4 because I’m cheap lol

Thats exactly what I was thinking and they are just an easier fish to manage (apart from the mess they make lol but to be fair my geophagus is worse than the bristlenose I have in my tank upstairs) I currently am running an allpondsolutions new 1000EF cannister along with two medium sized sponge filters however my geophagus and severums decides to make a mess right next to them and cause them to be even more painfully bad then they were haha (I probably ordered a pretty bad brand or something) Anyways there was this UV-sterilised hang on the back filter which sparked my interest as it was on sale and obviously I don't need a UV filter as its probably going to be no different than any other hang on the back but the litres per hour is what caught my eye.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

I have always loved Bristlenose Plecos. That'd be my suggestion but I see you have already thought it.

There are a lot of different variants of bristlenose - maybe you can find a new one that sparks your interest?

To be honest I wouldnt mind another bristlenose but then knowing me I'd want to have another different species with it which is what would probably cause the most issues so it might be best if I find a species I like and focus on three of the same species so it doesnt cause cross-species problems later on

I quite like the longfinned varient of the albino bristlenose but I have one already haha and weirdly enough it hasn't grown much in the months I've had it compared to the community fish in with it so that kind of worries me along with the longer fins as cichlids are well cichlids and my luck suggests that It would be a bad idea saying that though my cichlids fins are all long and healthy!

 

[Guyb93]

Thats exactly what I was thinking and they are just an easier fish to manage (apart from the mess they make lol but to be fair my geophagus is worse than the bristlenose I have in my tank upstairs) I currently am running an allpondsolutions new 1000EF cannister along with two medium sized sponge filters however my geophagus and severums decides to make a mess right next to them and cause them to be even more painfully bad then they were haha (I probably ordered a pretty bad brand or something) Anyways there was this UV-sterilised hang on the back filter which sparked my interest as it was on sale and obviously I don't need a UV filter as its probably going to be no different than any other hang on the back but the litres per hour is what caught my eye.

Yeah my geos were messy my sev are just plain greedy they will eat anything no waste like a fat kid with cake ahahaha keep us posted with your pleco choices I’d maybe even mix and match a few differnt types

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

(Incoming terrible advice)
I'd go for a sailfin plec with the size of that tank! What are the tank's dimensions? I'd love a tank like that for my sailfin.

But really though, I'm a little late to this conversation but I'd go with something like a rubberlip, like @Circus has already suggested. Not for any particular reason, I just love them.
If you're a bit more on the rich/posh side and feel comfortable with the purchase, I'd go with a lovely pricy, fancy pleco. L183 plecs are my all-time fav.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Yeah my geos were messy my sev are just plain greedy they will eat anything no waste like a fat kid with cake ahahaha keep us posted with your pleco choices I’d maybe even mix and match a few differnt types

Hahaha yep they are literally the fish versions of eataholics, I will do thinking of maybe mixing but then again I'm also scared of cross-species problems say if one gets huge and is really badly behaved compared to two smaller species haha but will keep you updated!

 

[SAChichlidLover]

(Incoming terrible advice)
I'd go for a sailfin plec with the size of that tank! What are the tank's dimensions? I'd love a tank like that for my sailfin.

But really though, I'm a little late to this conversation but I'd go with something like a rubberlip, like @Circus has already suggested. Not for any particular reason, I just love them.
If you're a bit more on the rich/posh side and feel comfortable with the purchase, I'd go with a lovely pricy, fancy pleco. L183 plecs are my all-time fav.

God I love sailfin plecos ughhh I miss the one I used to have, dimensions are 120cm by 50cm by 50cm so a pretty even rectangle lmao. Only problem is I wanted 3 and even 1 sailfin might be pushing it.. I tell you what I do really feel bad though as I was looking on ebay and I found 2 poor adult common plecos on there because they grew too large for the tank they were in and I actually feel so awful for them as they shouldnt really be in the hobby. I wish I had a 700gal or something so I couldve taken them on as they look beautiful

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

God I love sailfin plecos ughhh I miss the one I used to have, dimensions are 120cm by 50cm by 50cm so a pretty even rectangle lmao. Only problem is I wanted 3 and even 1 sailfin might be pushing it.. I tell you what I do really feel bad though as I was looking on ebay and I found 2 poor adult common plecos on there because they grew too large for the tank they were in and I actually feel so awful for them as they shouldnt really be in the hobby. I wish I had a 700gal or something so I couldve taken them on as they look beautiful

All plecos are gorgeous, especially older ones well into their lives. It's a shame that they're so mistreated and misunderstood.

My common pleco died yesterday, I'm assuming due to stunted growth from when he was still in the fish shop. Got my gorgeous sailfin plec still, hoping to get him a nice big tank one day.

What size do you mean by medium, though? 4-10 inches?

 

[SAChichlidLover]

All plecos are gorgeous, especially older ones well into their lives. It's a shame that they're so mistreated and misunderstood.

My common pleco died yesterday, I'm assuming due to stunted growth from when he was still in the fish shop. Got my gorgeous sailfin plec still, hoping to get him a nice big tank one day.

What size do you mean by medium, though? 4-10 inches?

I know right, I honestly dont get why common plecos are constantly sold to anyone with a fish tank!

Aww I'm sorry for your loss and I'm sure he was very happy with the time he spent with you.

By medium I set a limit of 6-12 inches so I have a little more species to look at