what sized tank??

[Dawney G]

Hi, I recently bought a baby plec, baby Gibbiceps, and two baby Loaches, I put them in my tank with 3 Neons, 3 Rosy Tetras, 6 Fire head tetras, 3 Corys, 1 Siamese fighter, 1 Female guppie and 4 baby Guppies. At the moment they are all small, but im saving for a large tank. Can someone tell me an ideal size tank for when all my fish get bigger. Most importantly, my plec and gibbiceps.
Also when i get my large tank, could i put a pictus, spined loach and golden sucker loach in the same tank as the ones listed above?
Dawney G
xxxx

 

[bluefire]

because you have the pleco i'd probably say a 55gal or larger other than that a 30

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

if its a common plec then it will grow up to 18 inches and if the loaches are clwon loaches i would say a 100 gallon minimum
as the clown loaches need at least 75 gallons and your plec will just get way to big

 

[andywg]

I'd say a minimum of 85UK gallons (preferably 6 x 1.5 x 1.5). That gibbi plec is going to be 18"+. From my understanding they are likely to get bigger than common plecs. In order to house the two you will need a fair tank. Especially if you want to add fish like pictus.

 

[CFC]

I agree with andy, to keep a common plec and a gibbiceps plec in the same tank you want at least 85g of water (something like a Juwel Rio 300 if your in the UK) and prefferably bigger really, also the tank is going to need masses of filtration to cope with the waste from two big plecs, two big eheim cannisters like Classic 2217's will be in order.

 

[andywg]

Or if you feel creative then a sump system should be able to handle the waste of a couple of plecs.

One problem some people have found is that larger plecs can become somewhat territorial so you will need to make sure a tank will have a lrage footprint and not just be tall to give plenty of space for the monsters to stake. However growing the plecs together from young is believed to alleviate some of the territorial aggression. I can't comment personally on this as my gibbi plec is only 6 or so inches long at the moment.

Andy

 

[Dawney G]

Ok, i think i got all that. I will look in my local fish stores to find out average prices. So i know how much it will cost me to upgrade. My loaches are not Clown loaches, though not sure what type they are. I will find out though.
Thankyou all for your suggestions.
xx
dawney