My Pleco Isn't Dead- I Swear.

Our pleco is around 10 yrs old now and it's so big. We have a 66L fish tank and it occupies the tank. Hubby wouldn't want to buy a bigger tank coz it will only get bigger. I think it's around 10-12 inches long now more or less. But hubby said it's been like that for quite a few years.
 
I love plecos! I'd love to get one one day but they require a big tank! I think it's 200 litres minimum? One of my friends had one in a 100L tank and had to rehome him after a few years. Not many fish places advise tank sizes properly, he thought it would be fine.

anyar.dris said:
Our pleco is around 10 yrs old now and it's so big. We have a 66L fish tank and it occupies the tank. Hubby wouldn't want to buy a bigger tank coz it will only get bigger. I think it's around 10-12 inches long now more or less. But hubby said it's been like that for quite a few years.
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I love a big plec! Sadly it's a common salesman myth that fish only grow to the size of the tank, they'll grow as nature intend them too like mammals :) I'd highly recommend a 200 litre tank to keep him happy and healthy :)
 
@Cavy Kung-Fu Sadly, we don't have the space to get bigger tank. The guinea pigs have already occupied most of our living room, we can't afford the fishes to do that as well. Pleco has always been the same size since I went to live here 6 years ago and it still have quite a lot of space to swim anyway. I think hubby is just having the tank because of it. He's had him for 10yrs or so. Apart from pleco, we have 2 loach, 4 barbs, 3 corys and 2 danios. These lots, we have them for 3 yrs or so. We had more of them when we bought them but lost some over the years. We haven't acquired any of it again.
 
lol my Aristotle does that, he lies upside down in an old urn, i have to look very carefully to check his mouth is actually moving, i swear he starts off eating the algae, then goes to sleep & drops off staying like it. he's a bristle nosed Ancistrus, i've had him either 26 or 27 yrs this month, he was just about 2cm when i got him, he's now about 16cm, he usually disappears when i try & measure him :doh:

i did inherit 2 plecs though, a friend had to get rid of her late husbands tank, so i had half of the fish & a work colleague had the other half, my tank was too small for them really (a tall, deeper, 4ft) as they grew to be 18 & 19inches with heads that were 4inches wide. I'm not sure how old they were but they were smaller than that when i was given them.

nobody else wanted them, not even the aquatic store. i had them about 12yrs i think. i had one of the smaller 8 inch ones as well for another tank, i was also given him when a friends boyfriend moved in & had to get rid of the tank, i had him 16yrs & he was second hand when he got him.
if you count the spines on their central (large on back) dorsal fin you can tell if its the smaller or larger variety. i cant remember if it was 12 & 13 or 18 & 19 spines, i'll try & dig out some photos tomorrow. but the one spine makes the difference between specific breeds & their sizes.

pretty plec of yours, i have been caught out many times with how still they can be!:yikes:
 
Sadly Beedee passed away recently. (I know, kind of jinxed it with the title of this forum.) He wasn't sick or anything- I think he just hogged the food so often that one of the fish decided he was food, too. (He was pretty torn up.)
 
yayoiharuko said:
Sadly Beedee passed away recently. (I know, kind of jinxed it with the title of this forum.) He wasn't sick or anything- I think he just hogged the food so often that one of the fish decided he was food, too. (He was pretty torn up.)
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Oh no so sorry to hear that
 
Claire W said:
I once had a goldfish who would float around the top of the tank on his side who always looked like he had died
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Sounds like swim bladder disease to me.
Common with fish who are fed pellet foods. One of my goldfish appears to only have partial control over his swim bladder- he has tons of problems maintaining buoyancy. He does better when fed protein for some reason (Things like cooked fish.)
 
yayoiharuko said:
Sounds like swim bladder disease to me.
Common with fish who are fed pellet foods. One of my goldfish appears to only have partial control over his swim bladder- he has tons of problems maintaining buoyancy. He does better when fed protein for some reason (Things like cooked fish.)
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Really? He didn’t do it all the time and was fed flaked food
 
Claire W said:
Really? He didn’t do it all the time and was fed flaked food
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Sadly most commercial foods like flakes or pellets contribute to swim bladder disease... I guess it's kind of like how they sell those yogurt drops for guinea pigs. And heavily scented bedding. Neither of which is good for them, but it is conveinent and so pet stores actively advertise them.
 
yayoiharuko said:
Sadly most commercial foods like flakes or pellets contribute to swim bladder disease... I guess it's kind of like how they sell those yogurt drops for guinea pigs. And heavily scented bedding. Neither of which is good for them, but it is conveinent and so pet stores actively advertise them.
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Thank you. I didn’t know that
 
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