Plecos/algae Eaters

Luzi

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I've been hunting down some algae eaters for my 17 gallon (64L) tank, and so far in my LFS i've seen common plecs (nope) synodontis (nope) gold nugget plecs (nope) rubbernose plecs, otos, pitbull plecs, whiptail catfish and twig catfish. I'm pretty sure the other LFS will have bristlenoses and bulldogs as well.
I've fallen in love with the twig catfish, but apparently they grow to 15cm. They seem to be pretty inactive though - is there any way i could keep one?
Otherwise, i think my backup would be a bulldog pleco. I've had one and they're great, but i'm looking to try something new. Any opinions on the other plecs?
 
Candy striped plecos
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only grow to 10cm max, and my tank is always clean
this is what they look like....
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mine are soon to be moved in to a bigger planted tank
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I think the catfish would be too big for your tank, if not plecos have you considered cory catfish?
heres come info...
http://www.brighthub.com/pets/freshwater-aquarium/articles/80059.aspx
 
They may be long but they are very thin- you can probably put a pair into a 17 easily.
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I've though about cories, but I'd rather get an algae muncher. I always loved plecos too :)
I'd love some candy plecs, but they're not common and are usually pretty expensive, so i don't think i'd be able to get hold of some.


How active are the twigs? I wouldn't want to stunt them :S
 
I've though about cories, but I'd rather get an algae muncher. I always loved plecos too :)
I'd love some candy plecs, but they're not common and are usually pretty expensive, so i don't think i'd be able to get hold of some.


How active are the twigs? I wouldn't want to stunt them :S

There's a list of smallish plecos on the plec section http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/132656-30-plecos-under-8-inches/

Don't know which of those are easy to source and not all will eat algae
 
I know their not plecs but have you thought of a couple of Platys? I have one in my tank and he eats an awful lot of algae!
 
The farlowellas are pretty lazy fish. They are not real active. I have heard stories of farlos starving to death a few inches from food cause they didn't want to move to get it. I think this may be an exaggeration, but not by much. :rolleyes:
 
you shouldn;t really buy any plec just to eat algae as they need feeding in their own rights and if they are fed they will leave the algae yet if left with just algae in my experience they will just starve

clown plecs are nice and stay pretty small
 
you shouldn;t really buy any plec just to eat algae as they need feeding in their own rights and if they are fed they will leave the algae yet if left with just algae in my experience they will just starve

clown plecs are nice and stay pretty small

I agree.
Plecs should be kept because you want Plecs, not to keep your tank clean. Because they invariably don't!

My LFS sold me some Siamese Flying Foxes. Man told me they would keep my tank clean from algae. Didn't really like them but thought for the algae eating they would be good.
So I got 3. Needless to say, they only nibble on algae. Not enough to keep the tank clean. And I now have 3 fish I don't want. And they must be the most difficult fish to catch! I have tried many times, but they keep getting away. After I few mins I give up as I don't want to traumatise my other fish to much. But I really want to get rid of them.
 
IMO twig catfishes should not be put in any tank that small sorry (I had the same experience with my first tank when i was younger which was also 65 litres and i wanted a twig catfish) the minimum tank size for ONE should be about 20 gallons but at a push on their own you might be able to have 2 in a 90 litre but thats on their own :(

I have owned all kinds of plecos from big to small to otos, ALOT

By my experience there are two mega algae cleaners out there and they are Ancistrus (bristlenose plec) and Pitbull plecs (parotocinclus jumbo)

As i said i too started off with a 65 litre tank and i was desperate to have an algae cleaner after the massive regular pleco one shop sold me (saying it was a bristlenose) was growing too big and had to go back. It never really cleaned any algae but i really wanted a hand with it ( i was about 14-15 years old at this point)

After many searches i found a maidenhead aquatics store which specialised in L number plecs and has a big tank full of some tiny plecos, only about 4 cm but 10-15 of them were there.

They were pitbull plecs and they only grow to about 6 cm and they are very like corys in that they hang around in groups ( and should be bought in a minimum of a trio) and sleep next to eachother but they go off and do there own thing too.

I immediatly bouhgt 5 as my tank was seriously out of control algae wise ( and being a young teen i couldnt be bothered to manually clean it!)
The SECOND they got into the tank they got to work rasping at every bit of algae in sight
I was very pleased with them and then went to bed. When i woke up the next morning EVERY SINGLE SPEC OF ALGAE WAS GONE!
I swear my tank was sparkling
yet there they still were cleaning the glass
Not only did i keep them till they died of old age but i absolutly fell in love with the little guys, the best bit was they were entirly peaceful and never hurt anything in the tank during feeding time (like other plecos sometimes do) or any other time they would quite often dive onto my hand when cleaning the tank and stay there 'cleaning me' lol

TO this day i have 5-6 tanks with at least 4 of the pitbulls in each, they may be small but they do the job in a tank of any size in fact in my big tanks i have to now grow algae for them because they have none left!
Dont forget thought that they each other food (infact almost any other food) and they relish zuccini

In a nut shell Pitbull plecs are WONDERFUL fish and brilliant plecos for anytank whether you just want them for algae cleaning or not i am sure you will quickly fall in love with them.

P.S. another great thing about them is there colour they are actually like little fishy chameleons! Depending on where they are on the tank or what they are on (and whether they have just been fed) they change colour depending on how they feel!
I have had some go a beautiful gold colour while others go grey and mossy green :D

I thoroughly recommend this pleco to anyone
 
eek!! sorry for such a long post :D :D got carried away!

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have either here, or pm me :) x x x
 
my lfs has pitbulls in. I have never kept them but I may be sold now!! :good:
 
i had a similar experience with my Bulldog, my tank was covered in algae and no matter how many times i cleaned it, within a few days it was like i never did :rolleyes: (lights on for 12+ hours most days and i may overfeed :look:) anyway since adding the Bulldog i haven't had any algae and she has quite a character too :good:
 
Is there another name for the candy striped pleco? i think i have seen these plecs under the name bumblebee pleco. :rolleyes:
Mrscuullen5373, maidenhead acuatics.... is that the one at cargate?
 
Yes PITBULL PLECS are awesome

Here are some links
http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?article_id=164

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/caresheets/caresheet.php?caresheetID=8

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Parotocinclus_jumbo.php

http://www.guitarfish.org/2008/03/11/pitbull-pleco-parotocinclus-jumbo

The bottom one was one of the articles i saw that persuaded me to get them, its about someone elses experience with these plecs.

And there is a good lot of pictures from someone on here on the profile of the pitbull plec too
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/129802-pitbull-pleco/
 

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