Bulldog Pleco In And 8 Gallon

[mantella]

I have a rather peculiar 8 gallon tank that I picked up from a garage sale. It's roughly 30x8x8 inches. As such it actually has more substrate area than a standard 10 gallon. The slim dimensions lend themselves to a stream-like feel. I plan on keeping the decor to mostly worn rocks and maybe some wood and leaf litter (possibly a couple java fern or crypts placed in appropriate crevices. With proper filtration do you think a sole Bulldog pleco could work? If not, does anyone have any other catfish suggestions? Also, do bulldog plecos require some minimum water turnover?

 

[the_lock_man]

An interesting proposition. I would think you'd need to be aiming for around 20x water turnover, for water purity, water flow, and oxygenation. You would also need the water cooler than usual, 18-20C or thereabouts.
 
Another good trick for these would be having some spare rocks growing algae outside, and keep rotating them.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The tank dimensions could work, you could even add a small group (6) of small, upper water "dithers" that are comfortable in the conditions Chaetostoma spp. need (10-20x real turnover with plenty of surface movement, 20-23C). A few options that spring to mind are Bloodfin Tetras (Aphyocharax anisitsi), WCMM, or Golden Pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi).
 
Pebbles, rocks and real/fake plants that can cope with such conditions will work, but I would be cautious about adding leaf litter and too much bogwood. Rubbernose Plecs are not very tolerant of organic matter in their water, leaves and wood will add various compounds including tannins.
 
These plecs are not vegetarian like BNs, they are omnivores with a meaty preference, in the wild they are often found on algae covered rocks because they are feeding on the tiny critters ("aufwuchs") that live in and around such rocks.
 
They are usually wild caught and are not easy to adapt to hobby food, I've lost two new purchases through starvation over four or so years, quarantining them to ensure they recognise hobby food is essential for a few weeks. New Era do some great Tropical Pellets and Plec Pellets, that are soft like plasticine, you can press these onto pebbles to help Chaetostoma adapt to captivity. Others try "painting food" onto pebbles, using egg white to bind crushed food and then letting it set dry for several days before adding to the tank.
My existing four (2 aff. milesi, 1 dorsale, 1 "mystery" species) now all readily recognise lose food (the New Era products and Tetra Prima) when it is added to the community tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Since there are multiple plecos called bulldog, it would help to know either the named species or its L about which number you are asking. They range in max. size from about 4 inches to 5.6 inches. Unless these are the internal dimensions of the tank, it holds 7 gals or less if you don't fill it to w/i about 1/4 inch otf the top.
 
Add some substrate and it gets to be more like 7 inches of depth or a bit less.
 
As for diet, here is what PC says about all the different varities:

 
Omnivore. Will eat algae and small live or frozen food. Some individuals can be weaned onto pellet food although this usually takes some effort and trial and error on the part of the aquarist.

 
I have never kept a single adult small pleco in anything less than a 10 gal., about 20x10x12 inches, and I prefer a 15 gal min. which is 24x10x18. While area is important when keeping multiples, with a single volume becomes an issue when they are poop factories. I would be more inclined to have a number of smaller cories in that tank than the pleco unless it is for sure one of the closer to 4 inch varieties. Otherwise I would go with nanofish.