fishy-fish Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 As above, I have a 330L tank which I'm thinking about stocking with various plecs. I am rather green around the gills when it comes to plecs so what are some do's and don'ts when it comes to a plec tank? Can you put various species together in one tank? Is there conspecific agression issues with multiple males? Is interbreeding an issue? What other tank mates would you recommend? Clown loaches? Corys? Dither fish? Any advice/direction would be greatly appreciated! :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirio Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Maybe keep species with similar diet together, can't think of many other complications if you provide everyone with adequate hiding spaces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 In my 450 litre discus tank I kept 1 king tiger, 1 tiger and 4 choc zebs together along with 8 clown loaches and a dozen or so sterbai with no apparent issues. The tank was 150cm long by 45cm wide. I had diftwood scattered throughout the length of the tank and up to about 15-20cm in height in places. There were no obvious issues however I hardly ever saw the plecs out. Maybe the clowns were too much for them. At the time I had all these together the plecs were only up to about 15 months in age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 If you want to reduce issues including agression I'd stick with smaller species which are not known to be overly agressive. The small Panaques (clown plecos, Iquito tigers, tiger plecos, flash plecos) are mainly plant/algae eaters and need wood in their diet. The various varieties of common bristlenose (i.e. regular, albino, calico, and I suspect GBA's) would look great together. They all come as long finned forms and would do well with the small Panaques. You can also keep Peckoltias (big band tigers, Peckoltia brevis) together with some Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers). Males of all species can get a little stroppy with other males, particularly ones of the same species, or similar patterned ones. Make sure you have plenty of cover (wood, rocks, ornaments, etc.) and I like to separate piles of wood or rocks apart to give fish that are picked on a break. You shouldn't have many issues at all until your plecos are mature. Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers, queen arabs, zebra plecos) will readily interbreed and produce fertile hybrids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyGeoff Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers, queen arabs, zebra plecos) will readily interbreed and produce fertile hybrids. which is not really a good thing, and there are many posts on this subject, so just stating this rather than hijacking your topic. I find that providing cover, without providing breeding caves reduces aggression with a mixed species tank. A stroppy plec, even a small one, can very quickly kill and mame other similar sized plecs. Which is fascinating to watch :spop: until you realise what is actually happening :facepalm: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted March 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 thanks for the advice :roll: much appreciated. I will keep you posted with my progress :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 just my 2 cents, i have recently found an escalated obsession with fancy plecos. I found that Any panaque (wood eaters) are extremely dirty:D pick your plecos right! wood is key too, not just fibre, but ifound most plecos work on a 'line of sight' aggression. so far i have found no persistent chasing, its more..."get off my log and ill leave you alone" so make sure there are plenty of hiding spots, they like hiding and if you dont hvae enough, fights break out:D also , plenty of food, or else fights also break out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted March 25, 2012 Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 What are the dimensions of the tank? Footprint is far more important than overall volume when planning a tank for plecs. And as henward said, they can be messy and many prefer good flow so big filtration is advisable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted March 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 What are the dimensions of the tank? Footprint is far more important than overall volume when planning a tank for plecs. And as henward said, they can be messy and many prefer good flow so big filtration is advisable. Footprint is 1400 x 535. I will be building a sump for this tank and will look to turn over the water 8-10 times per hour (3000L/hr) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyGeoff Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Footprint is 1400 x 535. I will be building a sump for this tank and will look to turn over the water 8-10 times per hour (3000L/hr) Nice footprint for 6-8 mixed species small wood munchers, say 2-3 L204 and 2-3 L002, and a few P.maccus. You could get more in there with plenty of cover, but the more you have the more maintenance you have. I would be doing a 30% water change per week, with the numbers I mentioned above. Note the fish I have mentioned above won't outgrow this tank, where a bigger panaque, would be cool for a feature fish as a small one, it would possibly outgrow this tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishplants Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 I don't have a lot of experience with fancy plecs, but as Adrienne hinted at, loaches are not that good with them. Loaches tend to dominate the bottom and subsequently the plecs stay in hiding. Clown loaches are extremely outgoing as far as loaches go. Due to a persistent snail issue in two of my fancy plec/Discus planted tanks, I have introduced two Angelicus loaches into each tank. In my experience these are quite shy (but awesome snail eaters), and so far seem to be fitting in well with the fancy plecs. In fact, I see the plecs more than I do the loaches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 I don't have a lot of experience with fancy plecs, but as Adrienne hinted at, loaches are not that good with them. Loaches tend to dominate the bottom and subsequently the plecs stay in hiding. Clown loaches are extremely outgoing as far as loaches go. Due to a persistent snail issue in two of my fancy plec/Discus planted tanks, I have introduced two Angelicus loaches into each tank. In my experience these are quite shy (but awesome snail eaters), and so far seem to be fitting in well with the fancy plecs. In fact, I see the plecs more than I do the loaches! I find that plecos adjust well to clown loaches. i have approximately 40 to 50 clown loaches. Sorry cant count exactly. they are also quite large, and the plecos tend to come out and be very aggressive with food as the clowns tend to be very active and hungry. Trick is, i just ensure there is enough food that the clown loaches cant finish them, the plecos tend to. My sailfin is the final vaccuum cleaner. He doesnt bother competing - but at the end, he cleans up, always a nice round belly, growing steadily. Sunshine is the most active with the cactus pleco. , blue phantom as well. the biggest royal pleco is also third most active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 Your plecs are pretty big aren't they Henward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 they are a mix size. but generally, able to hold their own. they are all bigger than what smaller panaques and plecs get to as a max size though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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