Don't Ream Me For This...

[Nevergone815]

i have a common pleco and he is about 2-3" in length. right now he is in a 10 gal (yes i know-he needs bigger). i got into fish keeping and at that time didn't research fish types (i have since learned my lesson).

well my question is how fast do they grow? i plan on getting a 150 gal in a couple of years, like next summer or the one after that (i have to save up for it). will he be ok in a 10 until then. i am going to try to get a 20 gal over this summer. i fell in love with him and he seems happy. i don't really want to get rid of him. i am hoping that he will grow slow enough for me to get the 150 gal. is my hopes only a dream? or can he last until then?

 

[Teelie]

6 months, at best. Possibly less. If you can't get a proper aquarium before the end of the year, I'd say to take it back or give it to someone who can. The 20g will help stave off the need but not by much.

 

[Nevergone815]

6 months, at best. Possibly less. If you can't get a proper aquarium before the end of the year, I'd say to take it back or give it to someone who can. The 20g will help stave off the need but not by much.

i hate to get rid of it, and my lfs doesn't take fish back (at least from what i saw with other customers) and know noone that will take it and give it a good home.

what if i got a 40 gal within 6 months- a year. will this allow me some additional time for me to get the 150 gal it needs? from what i gather from your post, they grow fast! i want to keep him, but i don't want him to be in completely horrible conditions also.

edit: ok i have been reading up on these things and have been given different recommended tank sizes for them. some sights say 55 gal, some say 75 gal and others say everything up to 150 gal. what would be the minimum tank size i would need to keep my pleco happy? i know that the bigger the better but i am on a tight budget (being a college student) and a time schedule (because of growth).

thanks for your help

 

[morgan]

Hi, I have a Common Pleco. He was 2-3" when I bought him last May and he is now 12". He was in a 20ukgal until December (not ideal but he was supposed to be a Bristlenose). He went in to a 65ukgal in December. He has plenty of space for now but I might have to get a bigger tank. He has not grown since December so perhaps he is adult size now. Apparently they can live for 30 years and they sometimes start growing again after they are adult. I read this info on a site specifically for Plecos (not Planet Catfish).

 

[Nevergone815]

so i would probably be able to get away with a 65-75 gal tank??? if so it saves me money for a temp home for him. how big is he in the 65 UK gal? how much is that in US gal as i am horrible with conversions?

i will be getting a 150 gal hopefully in the near future but the savings will have to be over a couple years.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Common plecs usually grow an inch a month up until they are 10inches long/a year old, where their growth usually slows down a lot- of course this also depends on how big the common plec will eventually grow, but most don't grow any larger than 12inches long, although really it can be anything between 8 and 18inches(very rare though they get this large, more of a sailfin size).
If you can get some pics of him that would help a lot as the number of veins it has in his sailfin is usually a rough indicator of how big he'll grow. A 10gal tank really won't be able to hold him for long though, once he gets to 4inchs+ he'll be too big for it and you'll run the risk of permanently stunting his growth.

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

You could look into setting him up in a rubbermaid or stock water tank for awile. Not the best looking things in the wolrd but the pleco do look nice looking down on them. I am setting one up right now for a RedDevil. a 100 gal stock tank is costing us $50. Then we are going to add rocks gravel and heaters and filters.

 

[morgan]

Hi, he is 12" at the moment. My tank is 300litres which is 65.991 UKgals or 79.275US gals. He has pleny of room at the moment. I will be keeping an eye on him to see if he grows anymore. If he grows another 3" he will need another tank. I thought he might grow again in his new bigger tank but he hasn't yet.

 

[Nevergone815]

thanks all for the replies. i will look into a storage container, that will be cheaper until i can save up for the actual tank.

right now it is in the 10 gal with other fish. if i give him a 5.5 gal filtered to himself, so he can spread out across the entire glass, would it make a difference? would he be ok until i get a larger container?

like i said i really am attached to him and will try to do whatever i can to make the proper arrangements for him. i just need to buy myself some time.

i will try to get pics soon if not tonight... so look for an edit to this post.

edit: ok so here are some pics i took (my girlfriend is holding it- she loves him as much as i do)

*note* if counting each vein in his top dorsal/sailfin indicates how long they will get... it seems that he should get around 12" long... now the question is what is the minimum tank size i should get for him?

 

[Sp3nc3r]

an inch a month isnt right

i have a common pleco in a 70 gallon right now and got him 6 months ago when he was about 1" and now he is about 3"

so it all depends on the fish really

 

[morgan]

An inch a month is about right for a Common. Mine grew 9" in 7 months. I don't know why yours hasn't grown much, he's certainly in a nice big tank. Perhaps he isn't a Common? I had a nice little Pleco once who was only 2". He died in a tank disaster. I don't know what type he was as my husband bought it.

 

[Nevergone815]

right now it is in the 10 gal with other fish. if i give him a 5.5 gal filtered to himself, so he can spread out across the entire glass, would it make a difference? would he be ok until i get a larger container?

i asked this but noone answered before, i want to see all options that i can do to hold him over until i can get a bigger container (maybe a huge storage container in a week or 2) to hold him over until i gt a bigger tank.

 

[morgan]

I would personally leave him in the 10gal,but I could be wrong. I don't think any pleco would be ok in a 5 gal because they are high waste producers. I would think he would be ok for 1 or 2 weeks. If I am wrong hopefully someone will say.

 

[Nevergone815]

well i need to have him last until like may/june so that i can buy like a storage container that can fit lots of water to hold him over until i can buy an actual tank for him. the container will be measured for gallons (yes i plan to count all the gallons i put in it) and then put an appropriate filter into it. i saw somewhere that the dimensions of a tank for large fish should 4x1.5x1.5 (that many times the fishes size in lxwxh) if this is true for a common pleco what will his full grown dimensions (like i know he should get around 12" long but how high and how wide should i expect him to be?) be so i can start looking for containers that will fit him

*remember that the 5.5 gal would be filtered with a 10 gal filter*

 

[morgan]

Those tank dimensions are correct. You can get away with 3 times the Plecos length if it is not an active type. I don't know if Commons are regarded as active or not. Mine seems to be, he glides about the tank. My Pleco is 12" long and about 3" across the head. Those measurements are my estimate, he is almost impossible to measure. He got a lot broader across the head as he grew, which is why I think it is a he but that is purely my guess. It doesn't matter, he lives alone pleco-wise. Commons don't like each other, you would need a very big tank to have more than one. IMO