Should I Get A Pleco?

[snazy]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

 

[dbanner]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

I meant the part where he said not everyone has a 5-6ft tank is very true... And so if you haven't got a 5-6ft tank to house a 2 foot plec then don't buy a plec that can get to 2 foot. Always buy fish with adult size in mind... Not the size they are as juveniles in pet stores

 

[BerryAttack]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

I meant the part where he said not everyone has a 5-6ft tank is very true... And so if you haven't got a 5-6ft tank to house a 2 foot plec then don't buy a plec that can get to 2 foot. Always buy fish with adult size in mind... Not the size they are as juveniles in pet stores

...dude if my fish was going to have its organs explode.. its been 7 years and you state that they die early on in life.you say it shortens the life of your fish.... 7 year old fish.. no exploding... wth are you smoking.

 

[dbanner]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

I meant the part where he said not everyone has a 5-6ft tank is very true... And so if you haven't got a 5-6ft tank to house a 2 foot plec then don't buy a plec that can get to 2 foot. Always buy fish with adult size in mind... Not the size they are as juveniles in pet stores

...dude if my fish was going to have its organs explode.. its been 7 years and you state that they die early on in life.you say it shortens the life of your fish.... 7 year old fish.. no exploding... wth are you smoking.

So your saying a 2-3 foot tank is ok for a fish that will get to 2 feet? Haha

Well it should get to 2 feet if given the correct care

 

[BerryAttack]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

I meant the part where he said not everyone has a 5-6ft tank is very true... And so if you haven't got a 5-6ft tank to house a 2 foot plec then don't buy a plec that can get to 2 foot. Always buy fish with adult size in mind... Not the size they are as juveniles in pet stores

...dude if my fish was going to have its organs explode.. its been 7 years and you state that they die early on in life.you say it shortens the life of your fish.... 7 year old fish.. no exploding... wth are you smoking.

So your saying a 2-3 foot tank is ok for a fish that will get to 2 feet? Haha

Well it should get to 2 feet if given the correct care

nope never said that a 2-3 foot tank is okay for a fish that will get 2ft... i said i got it when i was a kid and didn't know what size it was going to get. and i did say that i would not get another fish that grows that big.... you gotta read the chat over.

 

[snazy]

Which common pleco grows to 2 feet anyway? Most commons grow to 10-13 inches(25-35cm) which is just over a foot long, with a few exceptions like the Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps. A few exceptions also grow to 7-8 inches only. There are a lot that can pass for a common when young and they don't actually even reach a foot. It all depends what you've got. Go through the list on planetcatfish below under both most common familys of common plecos and try to find one that grows to 2 feet:

Here is a list of the Pterygoplichthys family:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=860


And a list of the Hypostomus family:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus.php?genus_id=17

 

[dbanner]

The skin and bones don't remain the same at all. Lol. This is why they are snakeheads and arowanas all over YouTube with arched backs and dropped eye from being in too small of a tank. Hence why stunting leads to deformity. There are plenty of experienced members on this forum that will back this up

That's exactly what I said.

The fish stops growing on the outside but it's organs continue to grow causing pain, eventually deformity and then early death. The above statement by BerryAttack is very true...

Was I reading your statement in the wrong way?

I meant the part where he said not everyone has a 5-6ft tank is very true... And so if you haven't got a 5-6ft tank to house a 2 foot plec then don't buy a plec that can get to 2 foot. Always buy fish with adult size in mind... Not the size they are as juveniles in pet stores

...dude if my fish was going to have its organs explode.. its been 7 years and you state that they die early on in life.you say it shortens the life of your fish.... 7 year old fish.. no exploding... wth are you smoking.

So your saying a 2-3 foot tank is ok for a fish that will get to 2 feet? Haha

Well it should get to 2 feet if given the correct care

nope never said that a 2-3 foot tank is okay for a fish that will get 2ft... i said i got it when i was a kid and didn't know what size it was going to get. and i did say that i would not get another fish that grows that big.... you gotta read the chat over.

Ok fair point... My mistake

 

[dbanner]

Which common pleco grows to 2 feet anyway? Most commons grow to 10-13 inches(25-35cm) which is just over a foot long, with a few exceptions like the Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps. A few exceptions also grow to 7-8 inches only. There are a lot that can pass for a common when young and they don't actually even reach a foot. It all depends what you've got. Go through the list on planetcatfish below under both most common familys of common plecos and try to find one that grows to 2 feet:

Here is a list of the Pterygoplichthys family:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=860


And a list of the Hypostomus family:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus.php?genus_id=17

And if you look at almost any thread on here you will realise that most people that say "I have a plec", the 1st response they will get is some thing along the lines of "if its a common or sailfin then it will outgrow your tank"... Most plecs that you see being traded in at your LFS will be commons because they can and will get huge. My LFS currently has over 5 of them that's been takes in purely because the people who have bought them have either been given false or misleading information in the 1st place (like "yes this plec will be fine in your 30 gal"... Which it won't) or/and the person hasn't done the correct research before hand.

Bottom line is that the only plecs that will live in a 20 gal is 1 that will max out at around 6 inches.. And IMO even that's pushing it. Many members on here will tell you that they wouldn't have a bristlenose plec in anything under 125 litres.. Which is 27 gal or 33US gal. So any common in a 20gal is a no go.

I think it's great that BerryAttacks plec is still doing well after the "x" amount of years he's owned it but this is not always the case. Generally the minimum tank size for any common plec is around 75-100 gallons (at least 18 inches front to back).

 

[mossonthemoon]

It sounds to me as if the pleco in the 20 gallon for seven years is probably not one that will get to two feet (or whatever that correct number should be, since as said above, there aren't any that go to "two feet"). If it is healthy, and has been there for seven years and is six inches, it is probably one that gets to six inches, maybe eight and is only slightly stunted. Or else this simply wouldn't be occurring.

ETA I had BNs in a 35 gallon. They get to roughly 6 inches and I was compelled to upgrade as much as I could. They are dirty, dirty fish and they like making caves in as many areas as possible when breeding, and it felt wrong to have them in 35 (US) gallons.

 

[BerryAttack]

http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3954163&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

pleco that gets 24"....

stores should really tell people how big these fish can get...

if you go by one inch to every gallon then.. following that rule you only need a 24 gallon tank? 0.o

 

[dbanner]

http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3954163&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo

pleco that gets 24"....

stores should really tell people how big these fish can get...

if you go by one inch to every gallon then.. following that rule you only need a 24 gallon tank? 0.o
[/quote

I see what you mean but the 1 inch per gallon rule is more of a guideline for beginners and it only counts for fish that get no bigger than 3 inches

 

[mossonthemoon]

Perhaps you were mis-sold? That can only be a good thing in this case if so. And "Plecostomus" is a very general term, referring to the Genus of a huge variety of fish. The inch to a gallon guideline is not a rule. It is a very rough guide related more to stocking multiple fish. You would hardly put a 10" fish in a 10 gallon tank, considering it would be the same length as one of the sides of a tank... How would it swim?

 

[dbanner]

Perhaps you were mis-sold? That can only be a good thing in this case if so. And "Plecostomus" is a very general term, referring to the Genus of a huge variety of fish. The inch to a gallon guideline is not a rule. It is a very rough guide related more to stocking multiple fish. You would hardly put a 10" fish in a 10 gallon tank, considering it would be the same length as one of the sides of a tank... How would it swim?

Spot on as I said above this a guideline for beginners but only counts with fish that get no bigger than 3 inches

With bigger fish i can't quite remember what it was but say a 10 inch cichlid then... The tank has to be a minimum of 4-5x more in length and 2x in width so for a 10 inch cichlid the min tank size would be roughly 48 inches long (4ft) and around 18-24 inches wide. Roughly

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The minimum size tank for a fish that is not hyperactive is regarded as 4L for its length, 2L for its depth and 2L for its height, where L is the fishes length.

So in the case of a Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps for example, that should rach 45cm SL (excluding tail fin), the long term tank should be 180x90x90cm (6x3x3). Just like Bala Sharks, looking after such a fish responsibly is way beyond the realms of the typical fishkepper.