Pleco in African cichlid tank

[Brianna rice]

alright so I have 5, 10 , & 55 gal tank. My pleco is about to outgrow the 5 gallon(i know she shouldn’t be in there but it was given to me) I want to put her in my 10 gallon. When my baby African cichlids get a little bigger do y’all think it’s ok to transfer my pleco in the 10 gallon with the babies? When I say she’s pretty big she’s like 6 inches at least. Im scared she will eat the babies. And no I can’t put in my 55 gallon due to African cichlids killing my pleco that I had in there

 

[FishFinatic77]

In my experience, plecos are extremely peacful fish. I don't think she would bother the babies at all. I had a clown pleco in with a bunch of guppies, and she never bothered the fry.

 

[Brianna rice]

In my experience, plecos are extremely peacful fish. I don't think she would bother the babies at all. I had a clown pleco in with a bunch of guppies, and she never bothered the fry.

I def appreciate your feedback and sharing your experience with me.

 

[Byron]

Pleco should not be with rift lake cichlids as they require totally opposite water parameters.

 

[Brianna rice]

Pleco should not be with rift lake cichlids as they require totally opposite water parameters.

You are the first one to ever tell me that but I had a pleco in my 55 gallon before the mature African cichlids killed it. I respectively disagree with your opinion.

 

[Demeter32]

Considering that plecos (is your's a common?) come from areas with soft, acidic water and African cichlids come from hard, alkaline water they certainly do have opposite water requirements.

I've seen it done, I've tried it and it worked for a short while with my adult male BN pleco. He would get harassed by the dominant males in the tank and was often bullied off his food. Eventually I took him out and put him in a 29gal, where he live happily with the few remaining juveniles BN he fathered along with juvenile OB peacock cichlids. Certainly not the most natural habitat for a BN pleco but I'm not about to change my tap water to make it suit a soft+acidic water loving species.

 

[Colin_T]

Byron is correct. Plecostomus and most other suckermouth catfish come from South America rivers that have very little to no mineral content. The pH is below 7.0 and the GH is usually below 100ppm.
African Rift Lake tanks have hard alkaline water with a pH above 7.6 and a GH above 250ppm. If you have a Lake Tanganyikan tank, the pH is closer to 8.5 and the GH above 400ppm.

If you have plecos/ bristlenose that have been bred in captivity for 20+ generations, they will be more likely to survive in the harder water. However, if you have wild caught fish, they need conditions that are similar to what they evolved in.

My suggestion, if you want to keep the pleco, get another tank for it. You can get double tier stands and have the 55 gallon Rift Lake tank on top and put a pleco tank under it. Then you can provide your fish with the conditions that they need.