# Plecos?



## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I seem to be finding contradiction information online..

I did a little research on which ones stay small and decided to go with Clown plecos. I have 2 small, young ones that I got from an ebay seller. (points to avatar). 

Right now they are in a 15 or so gallon storage bin with one male betta. When they get bigger, I would like to put them into the 20G with the female bettas. However I am not sure if that is a good idea or not and I am finding conflicting info on different forums about their ideal habitat.

I want to put both into a 20G long that has plants, sand, mopani wood and I was planning on adding some more hiding spots with fake wood (the mopani already lowers the PH too much for the snails to be happy) Some sites say they can be 2 in the same tank with enough hiding spots as they normally find one spot in the tank and stay there. Others so no, they are territorial and will fight or they need a bigger tank. 

My other question/concern is that the bettas will be too aggressive with the plecos when it comes to their feeding time. I drop in an algae waffer for the snails and they firecely go after it. Since I have heard the plecos are also territorial of their food, I don't want the bettas to hurt the pleco. 
The other issue is one of the "females" turned out to be a male VT. Since he has shown no aggression towards the females and after talking with some experienced owners on this forum, I decided to keep him in there. he is pretty much oblivious to to other living things in the tank unless there is food involved

I know they need driftwood and I should probably upgrade my filter and should add some more caves/rocks for them to hide under. 

So basically I want to know:
1) can I keep them together in a 20G Long with the bettas? 
2) Do they need an airstone or is the water from the filter enough?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

The Panaqolus maccus (L-104 and L-162) one of the smaller plecos (3.5-4inches) the male smaller than the female, big wood eater and best to have several different types of wood for them. They are more of a wood and veggie eater than algae-with meaty food on occasion. Awesome looking fish-they are easy to breed and keep.
Water prams vary based on season-from hard alkaline to soft neutral-temp range of 72-85F. Has been known to eat plants, usually peaceful but will defend territory especially if the male is guarding a clutch of eggs. They like fast moving water and high filtration due to big poop machines....lol...like most plecos....

I didn't find anything about aggressive behavior with keeping two and that 20gal long would be fine.

This is about all I could find...no personal experience with them....

With my BN plecos and I know these are two different kinds of plecos-but they all seem to be fine with the Bettas even when the Bettas try to steal their food. 

I couldn't find out if they have the knives on the side of their head like other plecos-but it did say something about they lack the buccal papilla a flap inside their mouth like other plecos. They can live up to 18 years....

Look forward to seeing pic and hearing about your personal experience with them...Awesome looking fish...


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## Tyler burkett (Apr 29, 2012)

I have a clown pleco(by the way good choice i love mine) it is a very timid fish that will hide for a while and if is doesnt have a spot have to hide for a while then it will find a place(like behind the filter tube) to hide and never come out.it is important to have a hiding spot for them both incase they do get teritorial but they should be fine with the other fish you want to put them with,mine is with a 12 inch oscar and does just fine because of all the places to hide. it is important to have wood because they do tend to nibble wood from time to time and to kill two birds with one stone you can have the treated wood that has vitamins and minerals they need.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I do have both cholla and mopani wood for them. They seem to like to hide under the low lying sillicone coral plants I have. I was hoping to not have to add them into the 20G because I wanted to keep that tank looking natural but they do seem to love those plants. I have been looking on ebay and amazon for some rocks and caves but not finding anything I want to have in the tank. I might pick up the rock slabs petco has in the reptile section and make caves out of that but its like $10 for 4 slabs of rock.



> I didn't find anything about aggressive behavior with keeping two and that 20gal long would be fine.


I tried BN plecos but I found them all dead in like 3 days. I don't know if they were sick OR if they were just too small to be in the tank with the bettas. They were about the size of petco's baby bettas - so very young and small. I think it was live aqueria.com that said they needed a 3 foot tank for 2 and they are aggressive with their own species.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Since I also raise the longfin albino bushynose pleco, I keep at least 1 in all my 10gal and larger tanks-I move them about every 4-6 months from the 10gal spawning/fry tanks or I should say swap them out about every 4-6mo as they grow-either sold or moved to a larger tank once they reach about 2-3 inches SL(_standard length_)-their tail fin can be nearly as long as their body. 
I haven't had any issue with mine when I swap them out as young as a week old from free swimming stage-so really they are closer to 3 week old more or less. I have never been able to get one to live longer than a couple of weeks in tanks 5gal and smaller and I have tried several different size/age of BN fry and I have NPT and still can't get them to live in too small of tank. They will do fine in the 10gal NPT short term-but once they reach a certain stage they seem to start to go down hill....anyway...I know BN and clown plecos are two different fish-but I really do think tank size can make a difference in long term health with plecos.

In my 75gal NPT I will see the male BN fighting-especially at feeding time and it can get pretty violent when the knives are brought out-but even the courting between a breeding pair can look a bit violent too. They are a bit like Bettas in some regards. If you have two males you might see some fighting as they mature and if you have a pair...well...be ready for some offspring....lol.....From what I read about the clown pleco, they are easy to breed just like the BN. Most plecos are easy to sell-its the shipping that can be hard due to their fins that poke holes in plastic bags.


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## Cole mccallister (Nov 5, 2012)

*depressed pleco*

please help me help it


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Cole mccallister said:


> please help me help it


If you will start a new thread and include the info sheet found in the disease/emergency section you will get better response.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I think they are both males or at least that's what the people on a pleco forum said. I won an aquaclear 70 gallon filter off ebay for $10 which I think is a bit overkill for a 20 gallon tank but I know I need to have some good filtration for them. I'm just a bit worried the current will be way to strong for the bettas. Once i get the filter and find some more things to use for hiding places, I think I may redo the 20G and add them into it. it's a massive pain in the rump to change the water in the storage bin they are in now. It's on the floor so the siphon won't work too well and the only way to get the debris out of it is to drag it into the bathroom, scoop out enough water so i can lift it and dump the water down the drain and then refill it. Plus trying to catch them is a chore in itself.

The BN's I had were WAY smaller then 3 inches. Maybe an inch including their tail.


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