owain

OK I was at my local pets at home store today.
I got speaking to a girl who works there.
We were talking about cold water and tropical fish.
I told her that I had a pond and she suggested getting a pleco as they
are good at eating algae. these may sound seem silly but i understood
the pleco to be tropical does anyone know these to be true?
owain

Alessa

Yes, Plecos are tropical and are not suitable for a cold water pond.

(sigh)

Randall

Not only are plecos tropical,but not all the species are good algae eaters.

Butterfly

They would be fine in weather warm enough that the water stays 78-80F but when it starts to cool off you would have to bring it into a warm tank.
I had one I put outside in the summer and brought inside for the winter, did this for several years. Now it lives at Dinos and CWC's fishhouse and does the same there
Carol

Iron waffle

I've seen a huge almost 2 foot pleco in an aquarium with larger koi at the LFS. It was at 73-75*-ish. Who knew plecos get that big?

gremlin

Last summer I put a baby pleco in my pond in the spring and in the fall I pulled it out and sent it to a warm tank in a school classroom. In just three months (or so) it went from a little 1 inch long Walmart rescue to about 8 - 9 inches long. I got another one this summer and it is also growing like a weed. I have NO moss or snails in my pond thanks to my cleaning crew. I don't know that a pleco would survive cooler water temps in the winter, but it does great in the summer! I attached a pic of the pleco I sent to school last fall.

Attached Images

07-31-07 pleco to school.JPG (45.6 KB, 14 views)

owain

Thanks for the picture, nice looking fish, don't those guys have spikes?
I think its far too cold here in London to house them in a pond, even
in our summer months that can still get cold and misery.
owain

gremlin

owain - I like the snowflake smiley, that's cute. They do have spiney fins. To me, a pleco feels like a wet lizard, kinda rough and not slimy at all.

Butterfly

Since Plecs have spines it's much safer to catch them some other way than using a net(they get them tangled in the net) and a hand is good I use my hand or a colander with a handle.
Carol