Cold Plecs?

[Nik]

About to start a re-vamp on a friends tank that contains 2 fancy gold fish and to common plecs that are about 4" long.

They are both too pale in my mind and I am putting this down to the fact they're in cold water??

Can plecs survive in cold water?? Can I extract these fish and aclimatise them to a tropical tank??

 

[Alien Anna]

Plecs would be rather miserable in a cold water tank but provided the room is warm, it probably wouldn't be too bad for them except at night. However, they'd be very prone to ich, fungus etc.

Common plecs are potentially massive fish (20" long is common) so I'd be concerned about you taking them on if you couldn't work up to a 120 gallon tank to house them. And once plecs get to a certain size, no one wants them

Why do LFS's sell such fish? It's really not kind and I know hardly anyone who can house them appropriately.

I'd leave it up to your conscience. Those 4" fish might not grow much in a goldfish tank, but only because they might not survive, period. OTOH, if you got them and gave them a warm tank, good food and attention, they could be tank busters. Dilemma