# Huge Pleco



## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

Yesterday I took my friend's fish. She was slowly killing them off and I felt sorry for them and took them all. 

She had somewhere close to 200 guppy fry and adults, a clown loach, a huge pleco, many snails, and some sort of shark to begin with. They were in a 10 gallon tank. She's been trying to get me to take the fish for about a year now. I got all my tanks set up so I finally gave in.

To my surprise, she had flushed most of the guppies. When I got there yesterday, she only had 7 male guppies, the clown loach, and the huge pleco. I measured him earlier and he's almost 10 inches. 

I put the nine of them in my 20 gallon with my three mollies. The giant pleco is ruining my tank. He's tearing up all of my plants and I don't know what to do with him. I honestly don't like them very much when they grow huge. He's icky! lol I talked to my cousin about the fish and he said he'd take him. But, Kevin only has a 10 gallon with wild caught catfish in it.

What would you all do? Should I put him on Craigslist or something?


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

See if your lfs will take him back. That's what i would do.


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

We don't have any fish stores other than Petsmart or Petco which for me is about an hour drive any way I go. None are privately owned. Does that matter or does Petsmart or Petco take them?


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

I guess it depends on the type of fish. Do you have a picture. I think they will take them but i don't expect any money from them  
Before driving over there, call your local petco (I know that will take back some fish) and see if they will take it back.


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

I don't have a pic right now, but I'll try to get one. He's just a common pleco. The brown striped ones. 

I'll see what I can do picture wise.


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)




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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

He looks like a sailfin pleco i really don't know if petsmart will take them because they get to be 20 inches. How big is he now?


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

A little under 10 inches.


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

CAll and ask either petsmart or Petco and see if you could return him if not maybe someone on the forum wil take him


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

Thank you for all your help. I've got another one that looks like him but he's only about 3 inches right now. 

I'll have to call up the petstores and see what can be done.
Thanks again!


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

petco and petsmart will take it no problem, but won't give money for him. they will take him as an "adoption" and give him away to some kid with a 10 gallon tank or smaller that says WOW THATS A BIG FISH.

Try putting him up for free on craigslist, or if it comes down to it, donate him to petco/petsmart


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## hckygirl_31 (Dec 19, 2008)

yeah they do get pretty big i got a pleco thats bout 9-10 inches he is huge and still growing but he is awsome i love that big guy


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

i got my pleco for .99 on sale at petco at about 2". he's 12 inches now and healthy as hell, but they dont call them poop machines for nothing.


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

I don't thing hes a sailfin. and this looks like a regular pleco which can get 2 feet or so.


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

Good news! I found a home for him with a friend of the family!!


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

it is a common pleco, hypostomus plecostomus. AKA common pleco. They grow to be roughly 60cm. HUGE fish and unfortunately always fall into the 5 and 10 gallon tanks of unknowing fish keepers.


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

justintrask said:


> it is a common pleco, hypostomus plecostomus. AKA common pleco. They grow to be roughly 60cm. HUGE fish and unfortunately always fall into the 5 and 10 gallon tanks of unknowing fish keepers.



True True. A full grown one looks so amazing though. Jet black with armor looking skin and a devil-ish look. 

Don't they get blacker with age?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

not always.

I tend to notice that there is a huge range of different colors and patterns within the hypostomi.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

Hypostomus Plecostomus will exceed 1 metre in length.i have seen them.not really a fish for the average home aquarium.good to see that you found it a home.


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## darkstar (Nov 25, 2008)

> it is a common pleco, hypostomus plecostomus. AKA common pleco. They grow to be roughly 60cm. HUGE fish


The term common pleco is a little inacurate since the term 'common' actually encompasses more than one fish. True Hypostomos Plecostomus are much rarer than they once were when they were imported in much greater numbers back in the 60's and 70's.
The fish you have there is more than likely a Pterygoplichthys Pardalis, one of the fish which fall into the 'common' grouping. It's not far off maximum size which is around 14" SL. They're bred in fish farms and are the most common loricariid available, especially in the larger chain stores.
The easy way to tell whether it's a Pterygoplichthys is to count the rays in the dorsal fin. If there's more than 10 then it's a Pterygoplichthys as most other plecos have 8 or less. While you're obviously doing a good thing for the fish, you do need to rehome it as soon as you possibly can. Apart from the fact that it's obviously far too big for the tank as well as being totally unsuited to it, plecs are well known for creating a lot of detrius and I very much doubt your filtration will be able to cope for long while it's in there. This could put not only the pleco at risk but all your other fish too.




> Hypostomus Plecostomus will exceed 1 metre in length.i have seen them.not really a fish for the average home aquarium.good to see that you found it a home.


If you have evidence of such then I'd very much like to see it. True Hypostomus Plecostomus only grow to around 12" SL and while some 'common' plecs can grow to around 24" none of the commons as far as I am aware will reach the 1m size. 
The largest pleco that I am aware of is Acanthicus Adonis which will reach up to 40" SL.


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## AmberH (Dec 23, 2008)

More good news! 

Currently I only have a 5 gal and a 20 gal. No where near big enough for some of the fish I had. I rehomed my clown loach today. 

Now I've only got the two new gouramis that my aunt brought home left to rehome.


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