Pleco Appreciation Thread

[Neleono]

View attachment 130103He is such a cutie. He spends most of his time on his driftwood, but he loves to eat.

Here is him when I first got him:
View attachment 130104
Anyway, I love these guys. I don’t get why “hatas gotta hate”, these creatures are amazing.

Lol this thread is making me want to get a pleco... such beautiful colors and the little cactus things at the top are so cool (<---- I have no idea what I'm talking about with plecos)

 

[PheonixKingZ]

You should! They are messy, but I love them.

 

[Flashygirl]

I wouldn't be without Melman (son loves Madagascar movie!!). He's our BNP that we've had about 3 years now. He's kinda lazy but nobodys perfect?

 

[Gypsum]

We have a clown pleco, but it's impossible to get a photograph of her.

This is Brooklyn, our female longfin bristlenose.

And this is one of four Hypancistrus furunculus.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

We have a clown pleco, but it's impossible to get a photograph of her.

This is Brooklyn, our female longfin bristlenose.

View attachment 130241

And this is one of four Hypancistrus furunculus.

View attachment 130243

Wow, they're both gorgeous! And I love those little corys(?) next to your yellow zebra!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

My little baby, Ziggy, the Starlight Pleco. He's brand new, not in his permanent tank yet and a bit camera shy. My first pleco! He's decided his favourite spots are behind the sponge filter, and tucked into the back of a chunk of driftwood. He's only an inch and a half long. Only had him for a week and I'm in love with him already, so I guess I've joined the pleco club!

 

[Gypsum]

The starlight plec is very pretty. Google tells me it's an Ancistrus species, so I imagine that it's requirements are in line with common Ancistrus? You don't need to fill your tank with powerheads?

The cory next to the H. furunculus is a C125 or Aspidoras spilotus.

 

[Neleono]

Aww that pleco looks so cool, cory is cute too.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My little baby, Ziggy, the Starlight Pleco. He's brand new, not in his permanent tank yet and a bit camera shy. My first pleco! He's decided his favourite spots are behind the sponge filter, and tucked into the back of a chunk of driftwood. He's only an inch and a half long. Only had him for a week and I'm in love with him already, so I guess I've joined the pleco club!
View attachment 130257
View attachment 130258View attachment 130259

Aww... his spots are so small! ?

 

[Mick85]

I have a king tiger pleco named bug and really like them, she doesn't come out much just at night and waits for her food. I've had her for 2 year's and she's just started moving about more now. I will always have a pleco in my tank its one fish I enjoy.

I had one of these King Tiger Plecos! He would always hide and i never saw him eat so i was worried he'd just waste away but he somehow kept growing and became more confident to come out. One day he disappeared and i still have no idea where he went! I blamed my pictus catfish for eating him because he was the only fish with a mouth big enough to fit the pleco. Ended up selling the catfish out of anger lol

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

The starlight plec is very pretty. Google tells me it's an Ancistrus species, so I imagine that it's requirements are in line with common Ancistrus? You don't need to fill your tank with powerheads?

The cory next to the H. furunculus is a C125 or Aspidoras spilotus.

I'm still super new to plecos, so please let me know if I'm doing something wrong! The store said their care was the same as normal Bristlenose plecs, and I went to Seriously Fish before buying him which said to replicate a stream, with sand, leaflitter, driftwood branches etc, so I figured it didn't need a great deal of flow, streams not being too rapid, you know? But I can always add some flow to half of the tank if he'd enjoy it!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Aww that pleco looks so cool, cory is cute too.

Thank you! The cory is one of the babies I reared when the bronzes I was quarantining decided to spawn! Have seven youngsters now from that spawn in October, I couldn't part with any of them. Soon, these bronzes and Ziggy the pleco will go into the 57 gallon tank.

 

[Gypsum]

I'm still super new to plecos, so please let me know if I'm doing something wrong! The store said their care was the same as normal Bristlenose plecs, and I went to Seriously Fish before buying him which said to replicate a stream, with sand, leaflitter, driftwood branches etc, so I figured it didn't need a great deal of flow, streams not being too rapid, you know? But I can always add some flow to half of the tank if he'd enjoy it!

It's from the Rio Negro, which isn't particularly fast, and a few other places. I don't think L183 requires much flow, but you should try to replicate the conditions of Rio Negro as much as possible -- lots of tannins, soft, acidic water, and super clean. Planet Catfish says maintaining blackwater conditions is important.

I learned the hard way that when Seriously Fish or Planet Catfish say high flow, they mean at least grade II rapids. But I don't think your pleco is a species that lives in that environment, so I wouldn't worry!

 

[itiwhetu]

These guys need soft acid water firstly. The tannin thing is also important. The water needs to be very clean and stable. so watch pH carefully. Small water changes regularly.

 

[CassCats]

My plecos