nukeonekitty
Knowledge talks while wisdom listens.
No one said they always reach 18", but they easily will out grow that tank.
What Is Wrong With This Kid?!?!?!
- Thread starter matt295
- Start date
Its very unhealthy for stunting. And certain fish dont get stunted, such as the oscar. My oscar overgew my 48 gallon tank and i had to give him away. he went from 2 inch to 8 inch in a matter of months and still wouldnt stop growing. I dont know if common plecos are one of the fish that dont get affected though.
Tank size is only one factor that can effect the overall size of a fish. If you do everything else right (excellent feeding, large amounts of water changes, least amount of stress on the fish, ect.) then the fish shouldn't be too badly stunted. With that said though, a tank that isn't in the range of decency won't allow the fish to grow to his/her full potenial no matter how well the other factors are handled.
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
i just got a new issue from one of my magazines and they have a question and answer collumn. This kid is 13 years old and says that he has a 55 gallon freshwater tank. the PH is 7.6, temp is 81 Fahrenheit, he has an underground filter, and a power filter. In the tank he has a 6 inch goldfish, 3 3-inch clown loaches, 3 4-inch swordtails, a 5-inch african cichlid, 2 8-inch common plecos, and a 7-inch gold clown knifefish!!! He says that he has been interested in a lot of species that include electric catfishes, needlenose gar, red tail catfish, and a channel catfish! He wants to know what species would be best for his tank.
I think this is so cruel. How can someone do this
Woah everyone, just chill for a moment.
"Ahem"
For relatively inactive fish like pleco's which can grow to 12inches or more, generally speaking to find the length of tank the tank should be at least 4 times the length of the fish, and to find the width it should be twice the length of the fish.
So if you had a 12inch common pleco, a 4x2x1ft tank (which would be about 55 US gallons) would be sufficient for a 12inch common pleco (although in my opinion, 18inches wide would also be sufficient if the lack of width was made up for in the length).
Afishdude is right in saying that most common plecos only grow to 12-14inches long, but nukeonekitty is also right that they have the potential to grow to 18inches, although this is less common. The eventual size of the pleco, as long as it is kept in a good sized tank, is largely determined by its genetics. To make things more confusing, there are actually different varieties of common plecos, and there are also sailfin plecos, and all of these plecos can crossbreed with each other, which is not that uncommon. So how large common plecos get can vary wildly due to all these different strains.
For a common pleco which happened to turn out to be one of the smaller growing ones, a 4x2x1ft tank/55gal would be adequate, however if the pleco grew anymore than 12inches long it would not be adequate anymore. Everyone is fussing over gallons here, what is far more important is the dimensions/measurements of the tank in question, as these can vary greatly and can make a great deal in difference when it comes down to whether a tank is suitable for a large growing fish or not. Most 55gals would not be adequate for a common plecos based on the popular dimensions of such tanks, but not all.
But anyways...Back to the original topic. Yes the daft pansy does have his head stuck up his a*se. Then again, whoever said there was anything common about sense? If the kid bothered to do any of his own research, he'd soon realise that a Red tailed catfish grows about 2-3 times larger than a 55gallon tank itself, and needs something in the range of a 20ft long by 10ft aquarium. And yeah...His current tank of horrors. I feel sorry for all of those fish. I mean, there's a good reason why we have such things as "coldwater" fish and "tropical" fish. The goldfish will far outgrow his tank on their own, amoungst other problems.
edit: sp
nukeonekitty
Knowledge talks while wisdom listens.
Hmmm... apparently my old common pleco missed that memo
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Oh whoops i totally mis-read the goldfish bit, at first i thought it said "6 goldfish" not "6inch goldfish", my bad lol
. However, fantails do grow larger than 6inches long, they have the potential to grow twice that long although 10inches long is a lot more common;http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=96537
.
I think that people should be aiming to house a Pleco at 18 inches, just incase it does have the potential to do so. Common that is...
Oh whoops i totally mis-read the goldfish bit, at first i thought it said "6 goldfish" not "6inch goldfish", my bad lol
http
how do you no its not a bubble eye. lol
-germ-
Rheophilic....
How do you know the story even exists?
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
how do you no its not a bubble eye. lolOh whoops i totally mis-read the goldfish bit, at first i thought it said "6 goldfish" not "6inch goldfish", my bad lol
Lol, because on the one hand while a fantail would get picked on by the cichlid, it would probably survive for quite a while. A delicate bubble eye goldfish though would be a punch bag in such a tank though. Ultimately i don't know what type of goldfish he has, but its a lot more likely to be a type of goldfish like a veiltail/fantail or blackmoor or a non-fancy goldfish like common or comet, since these are the most commonly stocked and cheapest goldfish in any lfs you'll see. Bubble eye goldfish also rarely ever grow to 6inches long, 5inches is a lot more common as a max size, so thats another reason why its unlikely to be a bubble eye goldfish.
Lol i think we're getting a bit too philosophical here, next it'll be "Do we all really exist?", "Is all this a dream?", "Neo, we're in the matrix!" lol
...As for me, i'm just in a chatty mood, so far as i am concerned any excuse for me to blabber away about fishkeeping is good
.
-germ-
Rheophilic....
You never know
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