Pleco

[GuppyDude]

Ok, iv had my common pleco for about 9 months, got him at walmart when he was 2 inches because he was all chewed up by an over-stocked tank of convicts. he great at eating alge and has a goofy personality about him. hes now 3, maybe 3.5 inches long now and he's got some territorial issues that need to be worked out. iv been moveing him every 2 weeks between my 3 tanks depending on where the most alge build up is and it worked out great, but my bigest of the 3 tanks is 20g and iv been informed countless times that he will outgrow even that. i would hate to get rid of him because he is such a cool fish but i just maybe might have a solution here. my mom just bought herself a huge tank for our basement onec its finished off. i think its like over 50g, but im not completely sure. she has studied about tropical fish to help determine how to set up a tropical tank but i think she has now desided on goldfish as she thinks tropical fish are a lot of hard work (which is partly true). so assumeing that my pleco can live in a 50g+ comfortably, is it possible for him to live in one full of gold fish? can plecos take cold water? and if not, can goldfish take warm water? the tank i assume will be well filtered with 2 40g filteres on either end as goldfish and plecos both make a big mess.

inchworm, if u think this thread belongs somewhere else, by all means move it, i just think this belongs under catfish, but i suppose tropical chitchat would work too

 

[MissD]

We've had a sailfin plec in a 30 gallon for around 8 or 9 years now. I know they're supposed to get fully grown on their own, but it does look as though he's sort of adapted to his tank size. He's always routing around in there and does a great job of keeping the glass absolutely spotless, so as long as he's happy in there, he's staying there. I know some people will disagree with that, and that's okay...

I don't know if they can take cold water or not...our guy survived an 8 hour car ride while we moved provinces, so the water temperature is bound to have dropped while he was in his bucket. I don't think I'd try it though, but I may be wrong.

As for the goldfish, I've had them in warm water to treat some mild ich and they REALLY didn't seem to like it. Whether or not they were feeling crappy from being sick is one thing, but they seemed to gasp a lot and just generally looked sad. As soon as they were well and back in cold water again, they picked right back up.

I hope that helped you, even if it is a teeny bit. It's just experiences I've had. I hope it helps, and if not, I hope you get some more feedback that does!

Edit: I can't spell.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

i think tropical fish are better, try and convince her to go tropical. in my opinion, gold fish are harder to take care of, as they need larger tanks then most community tropical fish. all you would need is a heater to make it tropical. i dont like gold fish though..... is this uk gallons or us gallons? i think plecs should be in tropical conditions, but i have seen some in gold fish tanks. they probably died later though.

 

[Platy16]

I have my pleco in with my two koi in a fifty five gallon in my basement and that is cold water and he has been in there for a couple of years so cold water is fine he is about 7 inches long and my koi are obout 9 he used to only be about your size too once you move them with bigger fish they grow bigger provide somewhere for him to hide mine doesent like my koi very much and hides behind the drift wood also algae wafers are awesome my pleco loves them

 

[lilfishie]

i had my BN plec in with my goldfish and she was fine

 

[hellohefalump]

my common plec lives with my goldfish, he seems fine, he grows, he looks healthy, he comes out, he eats lots...

 

[GuppyDude]

alright, iv heard they were real tuff fish, just had to make sure thogh. the tank is in us gallons, is plenty big enogh for goldfish, just have to stock to the smaller variety

 

[Raechal]

Actually it can be harder to tale care of goldfish than tropicals if you don't have over filtration, and even if you do, you'd find yourself doing more gravel vacs than a tropical tank (depending on how many goldies you are planning to get) They produce a lot of waste and need to be cleaned up after regularly. I do gravel vacs everyday and do 50% water changes every few days, plus I have over filtration.

 

[GuppyDude]

yea, i dont know much about goldfish at all, i can probably convince her to go tropical by just telling her how long those fish can live i do gravel vacs on my tropical tanks once a week, i dont see how it would be much different with goldfish, filtration isn't a problem thogh, 2 50g will fix that up