will sunfish and pleco's get along, guess ill find out

well, the local petland had 2.5" common pleco's onsale for 88 cents each, cheapest ive ever seen them, they are normally 2.88 but they got a shipment of 200 pleco's in and had to put them on sale, my native tanks are having some algae issues so i figured id go ahead and get some, i went ahead and got a dozen of them and put 6 of them in my 90 gallon tank that only had some snails and 2 minnow's and some crayfish.

i put 6 of them in my 125 gallon tank and the sunfish went straight over to them, and tried to bite them, after a couple tries they decided to leave them alone.

does anyone here keep pleco's in with their natives? im going to find out this winter if the pleco's can handle the colder temps.

just curious how well this will last.

matthew

In my tropical keeping days, I had a common pleco for a couple of years. As I started selling my tropicals and putting in natives, my pleco did fine with cooler temps. (S)he still ate like normal and did not seem to be too affected by it. I just want to warn about them being eaten. If the bluegills can fit it in there mouths, there may be trouble. The spines may stick them and kill them.. here is a link to a post on a tropical forum a while ago with an oscar that was killed by trying to eat a pleco.
http://www.aquahobby...pic.php?t=47141http://www.aquahobby...pic.php?t=47141
Just a warning. I reckon you know how big common plecos can get, but you will have a while before they get of any size - but you have large enough tanks at the momment.

Edited by UncleWillie, 03 June 2008 - 09:27 PM.

well, the local petland had 2.5" common pleco's onsale for 88 cents each, cheapest ive ever seen them, they are normally 2.88 but they got a shipment of 200 pleco's in and had to put them on sale, my native tanks are having some algae issues so i figured id go ahead and get some, i went ahead and got a dozen of them and put 6 of them in my 90 gallon tank that only had some snails and 2 minnow's and some crayfish.

i put 6 of them in my 125 gallon tank and the sunfish went straight over to them, and tried to bite them, after a couple tries they decided to leave them alone.

does anyone here keep pleco's in with their natives? im going to find out this winter if the pleco's can handle the colder temps.

just curious how well this will last.

matthew

They handle the cold very well, I've had some for years in my native tanks in my basement where winter water temps get in the low 50's and occassionally colder. I'm in Schenectady NY. Sunfish will leave them alone soon plecos are tough. I had one in with a bunch of native shiners, darters, suckers and some small 2" painted turtles. The pleco would suck on the back of the turtles and flop them around, the turtles seemed to enjoy this As the turtles grew a couple males would approach the resting pleco from the front with their front legs extended to the front and quiver their nails in the plecos face . The pleco did not feel the love though so no hybrids were obtained. I have been thinking of crossing an alligator snapper with a northern snakehead. I guess I'll need a permit for that one though.

The problem is plecos don't do squat as far as algae goes.

They seem to do just fine with sunfish and bass in Florida. Their dorsal spines and any armor will protect them enough if your sunfish actually have the gape size to try and make them a meal.

Fish really aren't the solution to algal problems on glass and plecos aren't the best solution in general.

The problem is plecos don't do squat as far as algae goes.

They stop eating algae at temperatures below 65F from what I've read. They really aren't a good addition to a native fish tank.

You ideally want to get rid of the cause of algae instead of the algae itself. I've been able to balance my lights to the point where I only have to manually clean the glass every month or so. More frequent water changes will also help unless your water has phosphates.

I actually have tanks where I WANT algae. But being able to control the factors that cause algae is key.

I had no luck keeping them when I did try for what its worth.

these are small 2.5" or so common pleco's ive been told that pleco's will do very well at eating algae until they get larger then they are too lazy.

the tank these were in was spotless im going to give it a month and see what happens, the light source for the 125 is a 6 foot light strip with two 36" t-12 bulbs, it also gets some sunlight, but its all shaded light from a window that views my back porch, my porch is covered with the deck thats above it.

the 90 gallon only has a 4 foot shop light with two 4 foot t-8 bulbs.

odd thing is my 90 gallon tank has no algae problems and its got shaded sunlight from the window AND two t-8 sunlight bulbs that are overdriven (3 foot bulbs) the ballast is made for 4 4 foot t-8 bulbs.


in my 65 gallon tank i have a 14" common pleco and a 3" clown pleco, i havent seen the clown pleco in a couple weeks though.



ill try to take some pictures of the tanks soon and then take more pictures in a couple weeks and let you guys know how the pleco's are working out, worst case is they will grow larger, get lazy and ill trade them in.

matthew

Some plecos will suck fish slime. Once they get a taste for it, they are incurable. Truly.

I was wndering this myself, since pleco's may not do well with low water temps are there any native algea eating fish?

I know it was said before but those pleco's can grow very large and 6 in one tank,even a large tank can lead to problems as they can get territorial as they get bigger. I have a 10" pleco in my 90g oscar tank and he took care of all the algea in a matter of hours once he was added, fascinating watching him remove the algea from the live plants without damaging them.

if the crayfish are large enough they may kill the plecos too. That's why I removed the crayfish from my 90 gal, he killed a 3.5" spotted raphael, whick is armored similarly to the plecos.

algae problem is taken care of, my 125 gallon tanks back wall is now clear, they are working on the front/sides now, the 90 gallon is taking alittle longer, but its clearing up too, the pleco's are working great, im going to send two of them out to my brothers to clean his tank as well

they are 2-2.5" so they are good with algae removal.

matthew

these are small 2.5" or so common pleco's ive been told that pleco's will do very well at eating algae until they get larger then they are too lazy.

Lazy? I don't think thats really the word your looking for. Plecos need to eat, no matter their size. IME adult plecos will eat algae, especially if there are few other options. Common plecos can reach 12-18" and they grow fast so I don't see why you felt the need to get a dozen but to each their own. Your algae problems may be gone but plecos produce a ton of waste, rather then scrub algae you'll now be forced to do multiple water changes. The last thing a pleco should be bought for is as a utility fish.
With that rant over I address your primary question. In most cases sunfishes can be housed with plecostomus, there are always exceptions though so be on the lookout for torn fins etc. or the plecos going after the sunfish themselves.

Lazy? I don't think thats really the word your looking for. Plecos need to eat, no matter their size. IME adult plecos will eat algae, especially if there are few other options. Common plecos can reach 12-18" and they grow fast so I don't see why you felt the need to get a dozen but to each their own. Your algae problems may be gone but plecos produce a ton of waste, rather then scrub algae you'll now be forced to do multiple water changes. The last thing a pleco should be bought for is as a utility fish.
With that rant over I address your primary question. In most cases sunfishes can be housed with plecostomus, there are always exceptions though so be on the lookout for torn fins etc. or the plecos going after the sunfish themselves.

Have to agree my 10" Pleco never stops moving in search for algea, I supplement with wafers but doesnt stop his never ending search. Mine is housed with 2 Oscars and I have seen some nipped fins but the pleco can hold his own and will push the Oscars out of his way if they are were he wants to be.

I had a rubbernose for this puprose, he only made it for several months, then passed away. I never had algae issues when he was in the tank, and I still don't, so I probably won't get another.