# I did the unthinkable...



## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

With a headline like that who's not going to view this haha.

So I left the hospital without my girlfriend knowing and snuck home to feed my fish. She thinks I'm still sleeping lol. 

Anyways the one thing I vowed never to do....
I put a pleco in my cichlid tank to mow my algae problem... So far he is chomping away at the algae on my rocks. Here's a snap of him doing work. And my Africans are very curious about what's in there tank. Hopefully when I go back he will be fine. I only was able to view for a short amount of time and my cichlids were surrounding him but not showing aggression.


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## Mikikal (Aug 18, 2012)

You can almost see the Chiclids going 

"Mum.. what the heck is that brown thing on that rock?"
"Oh that's dinner son" ARGH :O


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Lol I know they wouldn't back off of him. But they didn't nip or anything. I think they were all just wondering what was going on. New fish in there territory and all. But he is much needed for my algae out brake. As you can see the spot he has already cleaned. Iv had him about 6-7 months and he's no bigger then 3 1/2" hasn't grown at all since I picked it up. I wonder what kind of pleco he is. I brought it as a common but he's not growing at all. Anyways I hope hes ok in there with them. None of my Africans show any aggression to each other at all so hopefully he does not get bullyed around in there to much. 

I hope he does a good job with cleaning up the tank for me. Fingers crossed there and that he's still going to be alive when I get home. My cichlids didn't want to give him any room lol.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

He looks sooo scared lol... Dorsal fin down, the look in his eye as he cowers at his brightly colored nemesis. Hope he is doing good, and just focusing on all the food he has!


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## Mikikal (Aug 18, 2012)

I had that exact same pleco in my parents tank some years ago. Exact same colours and fins. It grew to ... ready for this? 16"!!!!!!! We had to re-home him twice because we couldn't keep up with his growth. He was an amazing little devil and we never ever had an algae issue as you can imagine. I find it strange that your hasn't grown at all. 

He's doing a good job anyway and hope he made it through to today.

Mike


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Yea I'm hoping tomorrow when I go home my tank is cleaned up and he's still alive. And I know it's very strange that it has not grown at all. My friend has a common pleco which is what I got mine as and his doesn't look like mine. But I know it's strange that it has not grown at all. It's been the same size forever now.


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

What size tank do you need to keep a pleco?


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## Guest (Aug 23, 2012)

You need like a 300 gallon tank or bigger to keep a pleco because they do get 2 feet long. Plecos are cool and they are hardy fish, resistant to many diseases.


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

Damn! They are so kool! I only have a 55


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Yea iv never had a problem with mine. He's about 3" and is not growing at all. He has been in my 55g for a while, I just swapped him over to the 55g cichlid tank to take care of all this algae


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm thinking I just got lucky and got one that has growth problems lol


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2012)

Maybe you did, or he will grow more because he is eating more. Also he is in a bigger tank. I have a 55 gallon with two plecos and they are 6 1/2 inches. My biggest clown loach is 7 inches. The pleco will get huge. I am planning to upgrade to a 210 or 300 gallon tank in a few years.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Possibly. Also he's been in a 55 for a few months now. Just swapped him to the other 55


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

And if he does somehow hit some growth spurt one day and I don't have room for him I'll just put it in my pond. Pleco can do fine in cold water (outdoors) from what I hear. But I really don't see that happening with how small he's been for 7 months not growing at all. And he has plenty of space to grow it just doesn't.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Okay so this wont work in this tank but a bushy nose pleco is perfect for most normal size aquariums. They max a 6" and stick to algae their entire life. They are cleaning machines! I say they wont work in this tank because they don't have the heavy armor that some of their larger counterparts have.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

kind of looks like a female bushynose to me..


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I had my mom go over to my condo today to feed my fish since she is a fish keeper as well. She got back to me a few min ago saying all the fish were fine besides my goldfish tank has ich and one of the plants in my planted tank came up. I knew about the goldfish before I came to the hospital and my damn plants never want to stay down. I asked about the pleco and she said it was fine still swimming around with no damage. If all goes well here at the hospital we should be able to go home in the next couple of hours. I can't wait to get home, but I have been messing with the cichlids in the waiting room late at night lol. As long as no one sees me it's ok. I spotted 3 fry in there tank one half ate. I think it's only because no one has been feeding them. But anyways I'm super excited but I know I need to do a water change when I get back in 4 of my tanks. I'm not looking forward to that, but there's a guy on Craigslist that has a add up in my area to do fishtank care for 5$ for my 8 10 gallons and 15$ to do my two 55 gallons.

I think the only reason my pleco did fine is because none of my Africans are real aggressive since they are all still under 3" he will be moved back out once the algae is all cleared up.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Fishtankguy- there are a lot of plecos you can put in a 55, just best not to put in a common as they get too big.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I can't find my pleco, I'm guessing he's hiding somewhere (lots of rocks) but ALL of the algae is GONE not a single speck of it left he even cleaned the glass and every single rock is cleaned! He or she did a great job in there.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

and now what are the africans going to eat ???


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

I bought a pleco. The person at petco said that it would be fine in my 55. idk what kind it was though.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I'd be scared. They will tell you it's fine to keep a great white in a 55. Chances are very high it is a common. 95% of the pleco's sold in Petco and Petsmart are common's. If it is a bushynosed/bristlenosed, or a rubberlipped you are okay. Those are the other 2 plecos commonly sold in those stores.


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

Do you mind if i send you a picture of him when he comes out next? Maybe you can identify it?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Sure thing  If he is a common you can keep him for quite a bit and when he starts to outgrow the tank put him up on Craig's list or give him to a LFS that takes bigger fish.


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

What does LFS mean?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Local Fish Store


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

I had some difficulty getting a good pic. Is this good enough for you to identify? If not, I will work on getting a better one tomorrow. I could only get the bottom of him because the filter was in the way.


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## fishtankguy (Aug 3, 2012)

I got a pic of the top! Here it is... 

Sorry for filling up your thread Cory:|


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

It's alright, and John the cichlids are very picky on what they will eat and it's your plecocaine everything else winds up in my filter :/ that's alright though and reminds me I'll have to order more from you. I'm running super low now and I'll need the #3 is it alright if I send you a money order again?


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

I have one in a 10g not sure what to do with it.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Put it on Craigslist if it's to big, if it's still small that can buy you some time to move it.


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

It's getting big.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Lol then yea I'd put it on Craigslist ASAP. Just try giving it away for free, everytime I tried to charge for a fish no one wanted them even if it was $1 for my $10 koi angels. I posted a add for free and they got picked up the same day. Same with my 9 white skirt tetras someone was at my house within 20 min of the add beig posted to get them.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Midnight snack? lol jk... A lady today overhead me talking to someone in the store about catfish ( she had a great selection ) and I mentioned that I like her cats a lot, I wish she had a Red Tail, I would get one... Then when it became too large for my tank I would just eat it. The owner freaked out, and said she will never sell me a Red Tail cat ever haha...

I honestly saw one of the largest common placo today ( [Hypostomus plecostomus] that I have seen in person not pics ), and it was pushing 2.5+ feet long. I could not believe it. It was nearly as long as my arm, and i'm 6'3" lol. I have seen some pretty dang big ones before, but this guy took the cake for largest placo ever seen by me. One good thing is he was NFS, he belonged to the owner.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

I kept a large pleco (approx 1 foot long) with my African cichlids for years and it was fine.


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