Welcome to GuppyLog.com
New to Guppylog?
Immediate Help


Conversions and Calculator
Conversions and Tank volume calculator


Add yourself to our guppylog map
Guppylog Members


* Change as much water as often as you can! *
Inkmaker
Front Page · Everything · News · Ask Guppylog · Diaries
Display: Sort:
Are Guppies Compatible with Plecostomus? | 5 comments (5 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Hi G-6 ! Bristlenose (Ancistris) (none / 0) (#3)
by unclescott on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:38:28 PM PST

"plecos" are popular in large guppy tanks. The fact that some of them are domestically raised, makes them safer than the wild suckermouths, which are often traveling museums of diseases and really, really need quarantine and lots of veggie foods. A guy I know has been breeding both the dwarf bristlenose and guppies in 40 and 50-gallon tanks. A great source of them is an aquarium club auction.

You might ask yourself why you want one or more of those Loricariids. If you want cool and bizarre fishes, go for them.

Stay away from the "regular" plecos, often Hypostomus plecostomus, if you have a 10-gallon aquarium. Hint: members of that genus (while really cool looking) are a major food item for some river people.

There are over 1,000 suckermouth or Loricariid catfishes from South American. They come in all sizes, so check on their ultimate length. One of the really cool groups of small suckermouths are the Peckoltia or "clown plecos". Their males are very territorial and only one of them would "fit" or survive in a 10-gallon tank.

Even the males of the many species of Ancistris are intolerant of other males. Maybe an exception would be if they were raised up together as fry - at least to a certain point. What can be deadly aggression in an aquarium though, is a survival strategy in nature - the fish get spread out as widely as possible.

The little and very cute species of Otocinclus and  Parotocinclus are great algae cleaners. They are a little touchy about getting chilled and water conditions though. Also, virtually all of them are wild caught and they can bring in diseases - especially dangerous to other catfish.

If you want Loricariids to clean algae (which they do well until spoiled with algae tablets), a clean, well rinsed, soap-less pot scrubber is a whole lot cheaper. What algae fragments aren't eaten by the guppies, can be siphoned out with the next partial water change.

So the scouring pads are cheap and they don't use up a lot of oxygen. They don't get velvet and they don't poop a lot. ;)

All the best!
unc;e

[ Parent ]



Are Guppies Compatible with Plecostomus? | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Display: Sort:

Menu

· create account

· F.A.Q. For Newbies!

· Immediate Help For Newbies!

· search


Web www.guppylog.com

· Scoop Info

· Our Tanks

Login
Make a new account
Username:
Password:

SourceForge Logo Powered by Scoop
Subscribe to our news feed
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 2002 and beyond The Management

create account | faq | search