Planning for new pleco

[ladynaoko]

I've had a lot of problems in my tank recently and it's ended up with half my tank dead (including my Queen arabesque, Duke - yeah, decided he was a queen).

Once all my tank problems are sorted I'd like to get another small variety of pleco (8 inches max) but I'm not sure what I want. It's hard to find smaller plecos here so I'd most likely have to order it over the net so price is a bit of an issue as well - since my parents would be paying for it I doubt they'll fork out the £40 - £90 I've seen some places charge for smaller plecos (but saying that - if they won't I'll save back a few weeks worth of pay if I get this job).

What I'm asking is this - can you guys suggest a small growing variety of pleco (8 inches max)? I know there are loads avaliable but I would like to see what you guys recommend first.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Hey, I'd recommend one that grows to smaller than 8" in your size tank to be honest. I don't buy ones that get more than 6" unless I really like them.

I got L134:

for £25 from Tri-Mar. He will only get to about 4 1/2"

I also have a L052:

for £16 from the same place and they get to about 4" but have very flay bodies.

You could also consider a farlowella catfish. They are funny and inexpensive suckermouth catfish:

£3.99 from trimar. I love my farlowella, Stick! One of my fav fish. They are algae eaters too and much less shy than most plecs are.

I don't have any other plecs but otos are always good (are technically plecs). I am thinking if getting a King Tiger (L066) for my cube tank.

 

[ladynaoko]

they're all so pretty

I know an 8 inch wouldn't be too good for my tank (hence why I said max size )

maybe one of these days I can convince my parents to put a tank in our living room, we've got a huge solid dresser in there to put a tank at least 4 ft on... then I could get more catfish

I've seen farawella catfish in my lfs and I wasn't sure if they be suitable for my tank, they're really nice looking fish though

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I've seen farawella catfish in my lfs and I wasn't sure if they be suitable for my tank, they're really nice looking fish though

What makes you think that? I think as long as they've some wood to pretend to be a far of they are fine anywhere. I got mine with the tank.

I love plecs, the only problem I have is that they are always very shy and it's a real event for them to come out. That's not always a bad thing though!

 

[ladynaoko]

possibly because when I went there they kept going on and on and on that I should only get cory cats, saying that though - they'd just had a huge cory shipment in and were trying to shift them all

I was looking on the Tri-Mar site and I couldn't find L134 anywhere on there in the tropical section, maybe they don't stock them anymore.. I hope not, look like a beautiful fish

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Yeah, I couldn't see him either when I looked to check the price. I'm sure if you email Monty will be able to help you out. They are very good. Monty advised me to get Brucilla (the L134) back in the days when I was a newb and thought that all plecs got massive.

I highly recommend farlowella. Depening on what else is going on in the tank you could perhaps have a small plec and a farlowella as long as there's wood for both. My farlowella attaches onto the thin stems of the tiger lotus all the time. He reminds me of a dragon fly when he swims.

 

[ladynaoko]

well I'll definately be getting another pleco, I was thinking of a gang of ottos as well but then catfish will be completely dominating my tank (as if that's a bad thing ). I have plenty of wood in my tank so I may consider a farwella & L134, I'm not too keen to get tetras again... despite being pretty they were the least favourite fish I had - they had no personality!

So at the moment the future fish mainly look to be catfish of various kinds

 

[Cheese Specialist]

So at the moment the future fish mainly look to be catfish of various kinds

Always a good thing!!!

 

[ladynaoko]

my mums sick of me talking about catfish (wow, I use this smiley way too much)

every time I mention the c word she rolls her eyes and starts giggling at me. Strange strange woman.

 

[smithrc]

We're just drawing up the stock list for our 35gal (see sig) and we're down to 2 plecs... Queen Arabesques L260 or the Leopard Frogs L134....

One of our lfs is willing to do the 134's for £20 each special order too
My girlfriend still wants the queens though....

we're looking to get 3/4 of them and try to breed.