# tank overload?



## guppylover (Jun 5, 2009)

ok, i have a five gallon tank and have two male guppies in it. (also a pleco BUT he wont be in there for very long, but for the time i guess we'll count him). someone told me to add some females because one of my males is not eating and it might be because the other one has established a dominance over the tank :s adding females might help but i dont know how many im allowed to add without over loading my tank :S
help please


----------



## Guest (Jun 6, 2009)

yes it is quite possible that there has been an pecking order established but no, i'm not sure if adding females to the tank will make a diff or not. the way i am looking at it is if there is a pecking order established, the same will filter down to them mating with the females as well. as far as i know, their aggression will only increase. putting a female in is a good idea if you wanna have frys!


----------



## Guest (Jun 6, 2009)

oh yes

for now, if you have the pleco , aka Mr Poop Machine, dont add any fish!


----------



## guppylover (Jun 5, 2009)

i did a water change and changed the filter out today. also bought some blood worms to see if maybe i could be my guppy to eat. i hear sometimes they get bored and they wont eat if you dont give them variety...? anyways...he nibbled on a few...which was a relief since he hasnt touched anything in days. thanks for the advice  we'll see if his appetite improves over the next few days...


----------



## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Zakk said:


> ... for now, if you have the pleco , aka Mr Poop Machine, dont add any fish!


Zk:

Have you ever owned one of the omnivores (which are really carnivores) such as a Gold Nugget?


Folks:

IMHO the "Mr. Poop Machine" is a myth relevant to all Pleco's which has been propagated on the internet.

IMHO the Pleco's which are wood eaters and therefore have an elongated body are significant poop generators.

I am interested in everyone's (who has experience) opinion here.




guppylover said:


> adding females might help but i dont know how many im allowed to add without over loading my tank :S
> help please


gl:

You can add six late juvie females to the tank but you will need like 50% daily WC's with bottom cleaning each day.

When the juvie females reach half-adult age you will need to move one male and three females to another tank.

TR


----------



## Guest (Jun 7, 2009)

yea i have actually. had 3 so far including an albino chocolate pleco and yes, they always shat a lot!

Jones,

i'm not sure which varity you are talking about but my commons and the albino would really poop a lot every day! long strings of i could be found at the bottom of my tank. ever since i let them in the pond, my bio load has fallen 10 times (when i had swordtails and live bearers). Poop Machines is something that i have experienced first hand and would say this isnt a myth. you maybe right, it maybe due to thier body structure, but that doesnt change the fact that they do poop a lot!


----------



## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

I completely agree with the term "poop machine"
I have a BN pleco in my tank. I clean the gravel and driftwood of all poop, and then an hour later it is covered in poop as if i never even touched the tank!

I love them, but they certainly produce a lot of poop.


----------



## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

I think I can honestly say my one pleco accounts for 50% of the poop in my tank.


----------



## fish36 (Jun 6, 2009)

Yea your pleco might poop a lot but they eat all that algae. What would you rather have.


----------



## Guest (Jun 10, 2009)

no poop and scrub the algae away!

thank you! 



Cheers!


----------

