How Much Room Does A Common Pleco Need?

[smmetz]

I got my common plecos when I was just starting with fish and didnt know any better. I know they will outgrow my 29 gallon. I will be getting a 55 this month, and I'm sure the plecos will eventually outgrow that also. My question is this. How long, in terms of its body length, does a tank need to be to keep a common pleco happy? My guess was a tank 5x lengths long and 2x lenths width for it to have lots of room. I think the bare minimum would be 4x long and 1.5x wide. I would like some opinions from people with a lot more experience than me though.

 

[smithrc]

calcs look good but you need to be looking at fully grown size though - they will be full grown in 12-18 months.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with smithrc, Common plecs can get anything between 9 and 18inches although 10-13inches is usually the most common max size for them- if you count the ammount of veins it has in its sailfin it should give you a rough idea of how big the beastie will get(i.e 8 veins is very little, while somthing like 14 is alot) .