Pleccos

[markandhisfish]

hopefully somebody can help me out here with pleccos...... the trouble is i just cant keep them alive. i have had a common plecco and a yellow spotted plecco both onlly lasted about 2 months then died is there something basic i am doing wrong? all i can think is did they get enough food? gave cucumber roughly every 10 days to 2 weeks other than that left him to find algea etc. thouigh am going to do a planted setup soon i currently have the cruddy fake ones. all other fish in my tank thrive

water stats

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 25
ph 7.8

please any help/ suggestions appreciated as i want a nice pleco in my new planted tank when its up an cycled but dont want to kill another nice fish



ooooops sorry just noticed i put this in wrong section please ignore i have posted in tropical fish section

 

[markandhisfish]

no answers in tropical fish section so anybody that coulkd help i would be very grateful thanks

 

[RadaR]

If your test kit is right, then there isn't wrong with your water quality.
There was a period when I too could not keep Plecs. Therefore, I bought some carbon, added it to the filter and let that run for a week. I then tried again and I've kept Plecs ever since.
Any chance that the temperature is too high and therefore depleated the oxygen content?

 

[SuperColey1]

how big is your tank and how big was the common? Commons are one of the hardiest fish that you can get!!

Andy

 

[JenCliBee]

lack of food is the most comman cause of death in juvies IME, always make sure they have a pretty much constant supply of food and i dont mean feed them all day everyday lol

cucumber or corquet i give every 2 days and leave it in for 12 hrs ish.


jen

 

[tibby25731]

I put in 2 algae wafers a day for my golden spot pleco, he needs 2 cos all the other fish have anibble too! Plus cucumber at least twice a week, I put it in around 7pm and take it out next morning before I go to work. By then, there is only the rind left
Get some algae wafers and you should be OK. Look for a golden spot pleco, mine was only a few quid, and he is so beautiful now he is getting bigger. Such a character too!

 

[tennis4you]

I put in 2 algae wafers a day for my golden spot pleco, he needs 2 cos all the other fish have anibble too! Plus cucumber at least twice a week, I put it in around 7pm and take it out next morning before I go to work. By then, there is only the rind left
Get some algae wafers and you should be OK. Look for a golden spot pleco, mine was only a few quid, and he is so beautiful now he is getting bigger. Such a character too!

I throw in an algae wafer each night and the dude goes right to it. I was the same as you before that though. I had problems keeping them alive for more than a few months, but I was not feeding them.

I vote for the algae wafers. Now the (3) I have grow like weeds and are doing well for over the last 12 months.

 

[xingumike]

the feeding regime you described would be the obvious cause for me, not enough and not varied enough