What pleco do I have?

[sgstvoy]

I have this pleco that is brownish colour, like camoflauge. Is it a common pleco? If yes then I'm in trouble, lol! My tank is about 50 inches wide...

anyway, I keep my pleco with goldfishes in one tank and with guppies and tetras in the other. More concerned about the tetra one, are they compatable? And Should I put salt in the tetra one?

 

[xXMrBonesXx]

is there a chance you can provide a pic?

 

[sgstvoy]

At the moment, no. Dropped my digicam into the tank (!!!!) and had emegerency clean the tank because something polluted the water. Spent a few good hours on it.. But I'll describe it with the best of my abilities..

looks almost like this:

http/www.csd.uwo.ca/gradstudents/nic/aqua/pleco.jpg (It's a big file, so..)

but the base color is dark brown, with lighter brown spots all over...

 

[SirMinion]

Ok:

• Yes, that sounds like a common
• No, he should not be kept with goldfish (either too warm for the goldfish or too cold for the plec, plus the amount of waste they produce is huge, as do goldfish resulting in foul water very quickly unless you supersize the filtration and do daily water changes.)
• Yes plecs can mix with tetras
• No you should not add salt to the tetras - The tetras don't need it and the plec would suffer for it.

 

[smithrc]

50" wide... thats not a bad sized tank... what are the other measurements?

 

[Shark_Lover]

that's a big tank...mine's 48" wide...

 

[Ferris]

The picture is of a sailfin so your plec is probably that or a common, both get huge and a 55 gal is a bare minimum, ideally bigger.

 

[sgstvoy]

Typo, not 50 inch (50" refers to a certain possession that I have), but a tiny 30" one..

As for the salt thing, then if I don't put salt, how do I prevent unwanted bacterial growth? I currently put in about 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt into it..

 

[pica_nuttalli]

how do I prevent unwanted bacterial growth?

weekly water changes. really, a proper feeding and maintenance routine should keep things just fine on their own.

 

[SirMinion]

Adding salt to prevent illness is kind of like taking antibiotics when you're not ill to prevent you getting sick. All it does it generate resistant bacterial strains and compromise your health in other ways.

The only way to keep a tank healthy is efficient mechanical & biological filtration and regular water changes.

 

[sgstvoy]

I think I'm in deep, deep trouble. Plecos get BIG! My tank is smaller than the lenght of a full grown one! What should I do?

And are there smaller plecos that I can keep? I mean, they are so cool, but they get so big...

 

[Ferris]

There are a lot of Plecs that grow to 4-5 inches. Check out Planet Catfish for detailed info. Your existing Plec will need to be re-homed in a really big tank or returned to your LFS.

 

[bunjiweb]

They can be kept with goldfish, most plecs like cooler water which is the kind of temperature that you would experience with an indoor coldwater tank. We keep some large common plecs in the BIG Koi vats at work, but they are BIG, and the filtration is MASSIVE. The temperature is kept steady and the plecs usually do fine.

So thats the main thing, look into your filtration and decide whether you need to upgrade it.

Just remember, its not the best solution, and as already said, plecs should really be in "tropical"..

Ben

 

[sgstvoy]

Any reccomendations for keeping small plecos?

 

[LoachLover]

50 inches wide is pretty good actually