today, while i was doing my volunteer work at my LPS, someone brought in a four inch Pleco. a brilliant specimen of the species, he was very solid and chunky and, like all Plecos, as lazy as heck. i asked them how long they'd had him, they told me four years. they bought him at an inch and a half long, he was living in a 20g communit with another Pleco, a monstrous school of Bleeding Hearts and Guppies, and a few other mismatched fish (a Kuhlii Loach, a Kissing Gourami, two Tiger Barbs) i asked them how they took care of him, and they said he got algae wafers after about thirty minutes of the lights being off, as well as whatever else he scrounged up. his 'brother fish' was the same size as him. they were never picked on, nothing bad had happened to them.

well, until they gave him in. the heater malfunctioned and froze everybody, the only reason he lived was by burying himself under a nice, warm pile of gravel. he was the only surviver, he was brought in.

people here tell me they can grow to be a foot in 'no time at all'. this guy was four inches in four years. it's made me rethink getting one for my community, by the time he does get huge he'll have a place in the 50g. until then he'd be a great algae eater and a perfect addition to my tank (too much action going on in there!)

just to let some people know, just because they CAN, doesn't mean they WILL!

My gibbiceps has grown from 1 inch to 5 inches in 9 months. By the time you add in his tail and sail he has outgtrown the community tank and so is now in his own tank.

But I wouldnt trade him for the world.

I think that fish are individuals, like people. Some grow at different rates. My 3 plecos were 10'', 8", and 6" when I got them over the summer. The largest is 10 1/2", the next is 10" & fatter than the larger one, and the smaller one is 7". They all live in the same tank and eat the same thing.

Tolak

Many fish will stop growing when food supply isn't great enough to suport them.

Hi BettaBoyz

Did you get him? I would never want to stunt a fishes growth by keeping him in a tank that couldn't support him, or (even worse) by starvation, but since he may already be stunted perhaps he would remain on the small side. And since you will be able to accomodate him, even if he does grow, why not get him?

He's a fish with a story, and IMHO, that's the best kind!!

Betta,
Hey girl there are others pleco species that do not get that big though. The zebra pleco I am looking at only get to 3 maybe 4 inches in length. (It is really expensive though...on-line the price was $100.) But there are some bristlnoses that only get to be 5 or 6 inches.
Signed,
Sondan

Bristlenoses are the cutest little things too..mine goes crazy after the llights are out, sometimes I sit in the dark and watch him when he thinks he;s alone (hehe stalker me!)