wisecrackerz

I am thinking about fish to add (in about 2 months) to my 37G. I have two tiny comets (holy guacamole those suckers grow fast) and two dojo loaches (maybe 3-4"). I've been thinking about a clown pleco. I don't mind not seeing a fish all the time, as long as I can locate him with some serious work to check on him. I also would be sure to snag lots of tasty driftwood. Some people say they are hermits, and will ignore everything else in the tank. This is just fine. But I have read about other experiences, where the plecos will bully other bottom feeders, and kick them out of the best hiding spaces. I don't want that at all; my loaches love to hang out in the "hard to get to" sorts of spots, and I would hate to have such soft lovable fish bullied by a grouchy spiny fish. Is this a personality thing, and it just depends on the individual fish? Or are these different types of plecos people are talking about? I'd love to hear people's experiences with clown plecos; they seem like a nice addition, but now I'm not sure.

TFA101

Clown plecos might as well be the best, life sentenced additions you could ever own. Mine's eleven years old and counting! She's out and about more often now that there's yummy driftwood and bushy plants around. They are great additions to the tank. She never bothered my cory catfish, and she was kicked out of her log when I had my Red Finned Shark. Really it depends on personality though, as I've seen clown plecos kick Red Tail Sharks out of their caves. Be sure to have good filtration, your tank will have quite the waste output with two comets and a pleco. Have fun

Nutter

Clown Plecs are a very placid fish in my experiences with them & have never bothered any of my other fish too much. Like all plecs they can be territorial with other plec species but usually no problem with other catfish or loaches. I've had Clowns with Corys, Khulis & Zebra Loaches before & other than the odd swipe with the tail at feeding time never had a problem. The tail swipes don't cause any damage, it's just a get away from my food action.