Sabi

Do you own a pleco?
If so, are you happy about it?
What type of pleco do you have?
Do you think they are good to keep or not?

darkwolf29a

I own one, yes. But, honestly, I'm not sure what he does.

I only ever see him in two places, and then he is sucking on the glass. I'd get rid of him, but my girlfriend likes him.

Bonochick

I have a common pleco. I love him, and he keeps my tank very clean. I think plecos are awesome.

sick-lid boy

I have a chocolate pleco.

He's OK, but in my opinion, plecos are not all they're cracked up to be as far as algae cleaner-uppers/ tank cleaners. Seems to me they produce more waste than they clean up, and they just get too big for most tanks anyway. Otos are like a tenth the size of a pleco and do a better job on keeping a tank free of algae.

Stradius011

I'm getting a pleco.

Butterfly

I love my plecs. They make me think of prehistoric creatures. I have three different kinds of bristlenose, a Rhino (Glyptoperichthys scorphus), an albino P.pardalis which is going to live at Dinos forever and ever because he is getting so big
Carol

Maxamas

I have one in my tank, he does a great job cleaning my tank. I haven't seen a spec of algae sense I put him in there. He's about 3" now, he was only about 1.5" when I had him in the 5 gal, but he seems to be growing in the new 10 gal tank. I just hope he doesn't grow to be 20" like the one I saw in the local pet store. If you guys want a pic I can get one for you guy, if he's still there.

sgould

I have a BN. He has done a wonderful job of cleaning up brown algae from my 55 gallon. He does pump out a lot of waste though. He is a poop machine!

COBettaCouple

we don't have any yet, but are on the lookout for a breeding pair of L046s.

Butterfly

I hope you have recently become independently wealthy. Would love to have some but they are out of my price range

Carol

Callum The Cat

Sabi

And a newbie question (for i'm still that! ) What is a L046s? I'm guessing its a type of pleco but i've googled it and its bringing me a whole lot of books!

griffin

this is what i think about plecos, i've had/have bn, albino bn, and a regular. currently switched over to all otos tho.

COBettaCouple

check out http://www.planetcatfish.com. L046 is the designation for a Zebra Pleco. They easily sell for $200 or more each. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=168.

Sabi

Oh zebras!
Yep i'm keeping a lookout for them too! Though they are bound to be much cheaper here. My LFS dont sell small fish expensively for some reason, and they get small ones. They had something like the zebra plec when i asked them but this one instead of having white stripes it had tanish stripes.

My common pleco sleeps or stays in one place most of the time then after a while goes on a cleaning spree and polishes the tank spick and span. The leopard stays on the anchor all day and moves around soon as i switch off the light. The tanks stays clean btwn the 2` of them, however i'll trade in algy soon....
I LOVE both guys!

COBettaCouple

yea.. there are so many types of plecos!

Sabi

For the first time since i have algy i saw him actually sucking algae! Anybody ever saw how they do it? Its interesting to watch, it goes sort of like 'scrub, scrub and a long brush'! Its really cool to watch! I cant get whats with him, he was always quiet when the lights are on now all of a sudden he eating algae in front of me! I think maybe his jealous over The other plec!!

COBettaCouple

yea, it is cool how the eat. i love watching algae eaters and the different ways they eat.. plecos, shrimp, otos, etc.. and maybe algy is jealous or he wants to be sure he's not getting a pink slip.

Shrimpy

well they are HUGE waste producers so i would stick with cory cats even though i still own my pleco

COBettaCouple

cory cats don't do a lot on algae though.. of course a lot of dwarf plecos don't either.. otos & shrimp or algae-loving plecos are the best for algae-control.

Jacko

I recently got a new "pleco" if you could call it that, it is a long forgotten L species that look very much like whiptail cat's but aren't quite, the mouth and armour structure is different. Anyway, for the amount of time I have had him (yesterday) he is the most active "pleco" I have ever had, though he has trouble turning himself around so he curls into a ball and drops from the glass sides.

I used to have a common pleco in a 10 gallon tank, he would flip upside down, horizontally to eat the flakes off of the surface of the water. Strange little feller.

Sabi

Thats interesting! Never heard of a pleco that can flip backwards and eat the flakes!

COBettaCouple

what L number is that pleco? he sounds pretty cool.

armadillo

I used to have 3 common plecs, including a lovely one who was out ALL the time, but I gave them away for lack of room. Now we have this strange one. Leopard pleco I think. Very pretty. I loooove plecos. Shame they're such sh** machines!

Sabi

Yea its a shame. But i guess if you stock your tank with mostly low waste produces theres a chance it might be possible to keep them with other fish, at least i'm trying it out!

Is there some site where i can learn the " L numbers" to match the plecos?

armadillo

planet catfish are pretty good with the L's and latin and common names.

SHPEPoser

I just recently got a pleco. I love the little guy. He is all over my tank and is very happy and active. I have a bristlenose pleco. They stay pretty small which means you can get more than one.

armadillo

Congrats on the bristlenose. Definitely on my shopping list.

Callum The Cat

armadillo

Oh, are they shy, then? I was hoping for a BRAVE pleco!