Pleco and tank size

[d'smom]

Hi,

Newbie here. My 8 y.o. son desperately wants a pleco! We have two small tanks -- 2.5g and 10g. We got the latter from neighbors which includes a Magnum 220 filter system. In the 10g I put our goldfish, 4 white clouds, and 3 female swordtails we got from the neighbors. Can we put a pleco in this tank? The filtration should be good enough. Is there any small species that would work? If there are too many fish in the tank, I'll work something out. Our 2.5g is presently housing 3 male swordtails, also from the neighbors, but I can always give that back to our goldfish. I don't want to invest in a larger tank at this stage due to time and money. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

D's Mom

 

[The-Wolf]

to the forums

I'm sorry to say the goldfish will need to be rehomed, preferably to a pond.
goldfish require 20 US gallons for the first fish and 10 for every additional one.
this is due to the ammount of ammonia they produce in their waste.
Additionally the slime coat on a goldfish is highly toxic to tropical fish, so keeping them with the WCMM's and swords is not the best idea.

As for adding a pleco, I feel that none of your tanks will be big enough for one.

 

[d'smom]

Thanks for the information. I know that the goldfish and the swordtails shouldn't be together, but as the neighbors were going to flush them, I didn't have the heart to do that. Was told at the fish store the white clouds were fine with the common goldfish we have. I thought I'd give it a try.

Thanks again.
d's mom

 

[The-Wolf]

your welcome
the WCMM's are not strictly tropical fish, they are classed as sub-tropical
so they may be ok, however as the goldfish becomes bigger he will view them as food.

I'm glad you saved the fish from being flushed, and I applaud you for saving them.

 

[Crookster]

Have a look at a hill stream loach, they're cold water I think, not sure how big they get though. As 4 pleco's u can get some ansistrus and peckoltia's that will only grow to 10cm but they are trops. Look at www.planetcatfish.com

 

[d'smom]

Thanks for the information. I finally visited a real fish store in our area and got some great guidance. I was looking into the hillside loach because they do great in cold temps but the store didn't have any. I decided to get a heater and am currently heating the tank to 72 to 73 degrees F (~23C). The fish store is taking the swordtails off my hands that I got with the tank. We've decided on a brushnose pleco which grows to 8cm - 10 cm. and with the added heat (they seem to like 70 -77F), it should do fine in the tank with the goldfish and 4 white clouds. My ds is over the moon and can't wait till Wednesday when I add it to the tank. Want to finish cycling through, making sure temp, ph and everything else is okay before we add in our new "family" member.

Appreciate your feedback!
d's mom