How many plecs can be kept in a 75 gallon?

[pseud]

For future reference, when I get a 75 gallon or + , I'd like to keep a large number of the smaller plecs, 3-5 inches in size. What would be a reasonable number of plecs to keep in a 75 gallon, with no other bottom dwellers?

How about a 125 gallon?

 

[bunjiweb]

You could keep a reasonable ammount with plenty of bogwood or rock formations in the tank.

In tanks this size you should think about getting small groups of a couple of varieties of pleco. Obviously it depends how exotic you want to go but things like Queen Arabesque Plecos (L260) stay small and look and behave great in a nice group.

Other plecs such as clown plecs and zebras (if you can find them) appreciate being in groups. Obviously it depends which plecs you decide to go for, but in a 90G i would have thought 5 or 6 plecs would be ok, and in a 175G you could probably stretch it to 8 or 10, but if you decide to go for a group of the smaller plecs i mentioned, you could have 3 groups of 3 in a 175G without problems.

Ben

 

[Paul_MTS]

Just to ruin the rule here at the moment I have 15 different L number plecs in my 110 gallon.

it's a lightly planted tank with large intricate bits of bogwood so plenty of hidey holes. There's no fights so far but keeping a close eye on things.

if you do it you have to buy them all young so they grow up together. I bought 2 of mine full grown are they are the more dominant ones in the tank.

apart from a coupl;e of small plecs i'm growing on for my larger tanks i picked ones that have a max size of less than 6"

 

[bunjiweb]

Its not ruining any rule Paul, you have very good filtration, i was advising stocking levels for standard filtration. If run on a beefy external filter you could fit LOTS of plecs in something as big as 125G and quite a few in a 75G..

I just realised i made up the tank sizes in my previous post so i will revise...

75Gallon you could probably fit 5 comfortably.
125 Gallon again i still think groups of smaller plecs would do well, but larger solitary species you could get away with 8 comfortably.

Ben

 

[Paul_MTS]

very true, although I'm considering bulking up filtration soon with another smaller cannister then filling with filter floss to wipe out a few floating particles.

 

[bunjiweb]

In my new tank i will have the Eheim 2217 currently in use on the 60G, i am getting a 2213 to fill with mechanical media and a bit of filter floss. Then i am having 2 powerheads with filter floss compartments in for water polishing duties... Hopefully this should give me lovely clean water!

Ben

 

[pseud]

Thanks for the information guys, I appreciate it.
When I finally get a bigger tank, (which wont be anytime in the next year), I doubt I'll be using any Super-Filtration so thanks for letting me know about that!