Royal plecs are somewhere between common plecs and rare L-number catfish in price. So they're expensive, but not incredibly expensive. I'd expect to pay somewhere between £20-50 for a specimen, depending on its size. Good sized specimens around 15-20 cm seem to sell for about £35.
In theory they can get to about 40 cm in the wild, but in an aquarium they seem to stay rather smaller, about 30 cm being about the largest size I've seen them. My own specimen has only reached about 15 cm or so in 11 years, but that may be unusual. There may even be some variation between the different varieties and geographical populations.
My specimen certainly spent many years in a tank smaller than 100 litres, and this may be one reason why she has grown so slowly. She now lives in a 180 litre tank and seems perfectly happy. Obviously, the more space, the better. I've been told by biologists working on these fish in labs that water changes are a key thing, the more water changes, the healthier the fish and the faster it will grow. A large aquarium helps with water quality. It is also important to remember that these fish eat vegetables and wood, and they produce a lot of solid wastes. While solid waste (basically wood chippings!) have minimal effect on water quality, they are unsightly, and you need a good filter with lots of water current. Even then, you'll probably want to siphon these out on a regular basis.
On the flip side, be sure not to overfeed them meaty foods. There's good observational evidence that specimens that die young often do so with damaged internal organs, specifically, too much fat around the organs. This is caused by eating too much meat. Green foods have to be the staple, together with wood, and meaty foods should be very much a treat.
Cheers, Neale
I saw lisaLQ's topic on Jim Royal and was wondering hom much these fish cost and how big they grow as i cant decide which pleco to get whin i upgrade tank size to 4', 2, 2' (100L) aprox. Could i get a royal pleco for this aquarium? Thanks Joemuz
