Plecos and Cichlids

How many of you have plecos in your cichlid tanks?

When I first got my 55 gallon, it had two large common plecos in it. I very quickly got rid of one. Then, several months ago, I gave away the other one and got a bristlenose pleco instead. He's great and does an amazing job keeping the aquarium clean.

I keep several plecos, some because they get rid of algae, and some because they look cool and get big(which i like ). My biggest is a 17'' sailfin.

I kept Common Plecos for years... even though I never felt they offered the advantages they were supposed to...

I later gave them up as they created a lot of waste and didn't help much...

Then I met a couple local guys who had weird looking plecos and gave them a shot. None of them lasted very long for various reasons.

For the last couple years I've not kept any but have recently been considering trying out a couple BNs again... until I read the post in this folder about Rubberlip plecos. Now I'm waiting for other peoples responses.

But it's nice to see I'm the only one who voted no... I like to be different...

Must be a Charlotte thing. I'm #2 to vote no. I don't like Plecos.

My cichlids eat plecos like they are feeders they go for the eyes then the bellys.

160 gallon tank.

7 Corydoras julii
9 Otocinclus vestitus
2 L110 Ancistrus sp. "orange spot"
1 Glyptoperichthys joselimaianus

Rubber lips and sailfins.

I have a common pleco in with my oscar and a rhino pleco in with my blood parrot. I am really happy with both but especially the rhino....he seems able to tolerate my BP (who is extremely aggressive) and if I could find another I would put one in my 40g too.

I was given a 75g tank w/two plecos, 1 8in & 1 12in. It also had a yellow lab & a cobalt blue. While the plecos did keep all the alge gone, they also produced a lot of waste! I just traded them to my LFS for two blk convicts. I still have a 4in pleco in my non-cichlid tank, but when he gets to be too much of a bio-load on that tank he will move on also.

plecos are the poor mans uv sterilizer

No one should ever buy Plecos for algae removal, I mean that is what Algae Scrapers are for! Plecos produce a lot of poop, so they may take of one mess but create another :wink:

People should only get Plecos because they actually like Plecos!

At least a pair of Bushynose in every tank... they don't get big, they eat algae, and don't **** alot like the common ones do... and oh, their beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I have a 6 inch common pleco in my cichlid tank. He's not worth it with how much waste he makes.

The other fish that I have in the cichlid tank is a chinese algae eater who does a LOT better of a job cleaning the tank.

VampirePleco said:

No one should ever buy Plecos for algae removal, I mean that is what Algae Scrapers are for! Plecos produce a lot of poop, so they may take of one mess but create another :wink:

People should only get Plecos because they actually like Plecos!

Click to expand...

Bushynoses do an amazong job of algae removal. I've never had to use my algae scrapers in my tanks with bushynose!

I've got various types of bristlenose (regular, albino, calico, long fin) and a para pleco. A long fin bristlenose is a gorgeous fish. I keep my long fin ones in my fry tanks. That way they get to keep their long beautiful fins. Little 1/2" fish seem to leave a 6-8" fish alone pretty well.

my cichlids always try to eat plecos.... so i kind of gave up

punk_123 said:

my cichlids always try to eat plecos.... so i kind of gave up

Click to expand...

Heh, my plecos kinda eat cichlids...or at least their big enough to pick off the smaller of my CA/SA and even Africans :lol:

VampirePleco said:

No one should ever buy Plecos for algae removal, I mean that is what Algae Scrapers are for! Plecos produce a lot of poop, so they may take of one mess but create another :wink:

People should only get Plecos because they actually like Plecos!

Click to expand...

I actually like plecos, that's why I keep them. Wht do I like them? Because they do a great job of keeping algae under control. I probably would have none if they didn't eat the algae. The mess they produce (poop) is easily sucked up by my filters. The mess they take care of (algae) can otherwise only be removed by scraping. That may not be a problem for someone that keeps one or two tanks, but I have 8 tanks, and I'd rather spend the time watching the fish.
Another factor is that sand can easily scratch glass when scraping, so the less I scrape, the less likely I am to have a scratched tank.