The Common Pleco

HI all,

I've had my 200L (UK) tank setup for nearly a year now and inherited a common pleco previous to its setup. He's gone from being around 4" to 8.5" in a year and with his growth I wanted to make sure I'm still feeding him the appropriate amounts.

The tank is full of driftwood, I feed him once every 2-3 days with 2-3 algae wafers. I do also have 3 Cory and 2 Yamato Shrimp that tend to nibble on the wafers too.

My setup also houses:
6 cherry barb
1 platy (inherited)
8 tetra

The tank is typically very clean, I'm running two filters, have no live plants, temperature is 25.5c, I used to clean it out once a week but I've found twice a week with a 45L water change works well.

Any extra advice is appreciated!

Thanks.

 

I feed my Pleco every night one algae wafer. He also gets the leftover food that makes its way to the bottom.

 

Some Pleco info for you.

"They can be kept in smaller aquariums while they are juveniles, but should be moved to at least a 55 gallon aquarium as soon as possible. And even with a 55 gallon aquarium, they will often become too large to turn around in the tank, and should be provided with at least a 75 gallon aquarium, with 100 gallons being preferable. Something else to keep in mind when choosing an aquarium for a common pleco, is that they are known to become extremely aggressive when they reach adulthood. While juveniles are generally an excellent community fish, any adult plecos should be kept in a semi-aggressive tank.

They are actually omnivores, and eat plant material, algae, insects and small crustaceans in the wild. This diet should be reproduced as closely as possible in the home aquarium, and they should ideally be fed algae wafers and a high quality flake food. They can also be fed frozen foods, with bloodworms being the best option since they sink, and are easy for plecos to catch. One of the best algae wafers to feed them are and I use them for all of my plecos". 1 (footnote)

1 Matthew Seymour

Hope this helps.

 

I do not have a pleco anymore but I would say to be sure he is always happy and we'll fed I used to feed mine twice a day with flakes and half of a algae wafer

 

Are there any plans for him to be moved to a larger tank in the near future?

 

Thanks for everyone's help! I've been thinking about a bigger tank for him for a while, really don't want to rehome him as he's my favourite and the reason I bought a 200L tank in the first place. I just need to sort out a larger tank, I was thinking of making one.

I do feed him and the other fish bloodworms once a week. I've never fed him insects or small crustaceans - any suggestions as to which? and I'll look into that.

My plan is to eventually have two tanks anyway, one with the tetra etc, and the other with maybe some Angel's and the pleco.