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Posted by Trevor Stenson on April 15, 2006, 3:06 am
Please log in for more thread options Hi,
I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
after 20 years.
I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
of college.
So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
experts here. Anyway:
Question #1:
I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.
The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.
I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
their environment.
Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?
Cheers,
Trev
--
Trevor Stenson
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html
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Posted by swarvegorilla on April 15, 2006, 4:16 am
Please log in for more thread options
> Hi,
>
> I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
> after 20 years.
>
> I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
> of college.
>
> So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
> weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
> forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
> experts here. Anyway:
>
> Question #1:
>
> I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
> floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
> which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
> Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.
>
> The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
> Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.
>
> I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
> too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
> was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
> large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
> somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
> tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
> that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
> their environment.
>
> Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
> away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Trev
>
> --
> Trevor Stenson
Yes, he will outgrow the tank and yes he will produce far more waste than
you want to deal with in there..
The rainbow shark will also prob get a bit aggro.
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Posted by Dale Henderson on April 15, 2006, 11:36 am
Please log in for more thread options
TS> Yes a common Pleco I believe.
I think many people call a sailfin pleco a common pleco. If you have a
sailfin pleco, they can get quite large. I've seen them that where 18"
long.
TS> Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into
TS> Godzilla?
Bristlenose plecos only get 4" long. And I hear they really devastate
algae.
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Posted by Trevor Stenson on April 15, 2006, 1:28 pm
Please log in for more thread options
>
>
> TS> Yes a common Pleco I believe.
>
> I think many people call a sailfin pleco a common pleco. If you have a
> sailfin pleco, they can get quite large. I've seen them that where 18"
> long.
>
> TS> Are there any recommended algae-eaters that won't turn into
> TS> Godzilla?
>
> Bristlenose plecos only get 4" long. And I hear they really devastate
> algae.
Hi thanks for all the fish suggestions everyone.
As to your specific question.
I bought him a small common pleco at a chain store, which actually isn't
bad at keeping fish and has a large selection. The told me it was a
common pleco but I remember commenting that they certainly were small!
The lady said she ordered them and they came in that way looking more on
the medium size (almost and inch with tail but not really fat yet).
I shop at an aquarium/fish only store now.
Anyway, the web is confusing on this. Some of the pictures are much
more plain with small fins. That is not my guy and is listed as
Hypostomus plecostomus (the store didn't have the Latin name). Others
look a lot like my fish but maybe these sites are mistaken. I
originally put down H. plecostomus in my database as the fishes ID.
However, some, but not all, of the pictures of the Sailfin Pleco
(Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) do indeed look quite a lot like my pleco.
More so than the plain picutres of H. plecostomus.
Pictures of the Gibby and White Spotted Sailfin Plecos do indeed look
like my fish. So there is a chance that a Sailfin was unwittingly sold
and bought. And I'm taking it that this one of the large growth plecos.
I originally knew that the fish could grow up to 18", I discovered this
when I investigated it further on bring it home, but I thought that
would take up to 10 years. Mine just is growing faster than expected.
Where I found this info also showed a picture of a fish that looks like
mine (so is that a H. pleco or a Sailfin?).
I'll try to get a better look at mine next time he is out, but he often
hides from the light.
Also I tried algae pellets at first. They resulted in an algae bloom
but maybe I was adding them too often (once a day). I stopped, then I
got regular algae from all my plants. Then the Pleco went to work and
all the algae disappeared, and my Pleco grew and grew and...he seems
fine just on the normal plants and algae for now. The is no wood
(unless petrified) and I feed him no special food since the pellets but
if need be I can reintroduce other food at some point.
Thanks,
Trev
--
Trevor Stenson
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Digs.html
http://members.shaw.ca/kitschy/Blog/Blog.html
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Posted by Altum on April 15, 2006, 2:38 pm
Please log in for more thread options Trevor Stenson wrote:
>
> I bought him a small common pleco at a chain store, which actually isn't
> bad at keeping fish and has a large selection. The told me it was a
> common pleco but I remember commenting that they certainly were small!
> The lady said she ordered them and they came in that way looking more on
> the medium size (almost and inch with tail but not really fat yet).
>
> I shop at an aquarium/fish only store now.
>
> Anyway, the web is confusing on this. Some of the pictures are much
> more plain with small fins. That is not my guy and is listed as
> Hypostomus plecostomus (the store didn't have the Latin name). Others
> look a lot like my fish but maybe these sites are mistaken. I
> originally put down H. plecostomus in my database as the fishes ID.
>
>
> However, some, but not all, of the pictures of the Sailfin Pleco
> (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) do indeed look quite a lot like my pleco.
> More so than the plain picutres of H. plecostomus.
>
> Pictures of the Gibby and White Spotted Sailfin Plecos do indeed look
> like my fish. So there is a chance that a Sailfin was unwittingly sold
> and bought. And I'm taking it that this one of the large growth plecos.
Gibbies are often sold as "common plecos". Mislabeling is rampant at
the big chains. Big gibbies are gorgeous fish. To tell a little gibbie
from a common pleco, look for the spotted patterning on the fin and
back. Gibbies also have a large dorsal that's given them the name of
sailfin.
> I originally knew that the fish could grow up to 18", I discovered this
> when I investigated it further on bring it home, but I thought that
> would take up to 10 years. Mine just is growing faster than expected.
> Where I found this info also showed a picture of a fish that looks like
> mine (so is that a H. pleco or a Sailfin?).
Heh. Fish grow to their natural size, and they do it pretty fast if
you're feeding well. Gibbies need at least a 55 gallon tank, and 70 is
better since it's 18" front to back.
> I'll try to get a better look at mine next time he is out, but he often
> hides from the light.
>
> Also I tried algae pellets at first. They resulted in an algae bloom
> but maybe I was adding them too often (once a day). I stopped, then I
> got regular algae from all my plants. Then the Pleco went to work and
> all the algae disappeared, and my Pleco grew and grew and...he seems
> fine just on the normal plants and algae for now. The is no wood
> (unless petrified) and I feed him no special food since the pellets but
> if need be I can reintroduce other food at some point.
Plecos need a *lot* of food. Small ones eat a lot of vegetable matter
so offer slices of cucumber, blanched zucchini, or romaine lettuce along
with the algae wafers. Remove any veggies after 24 hours.
As they grow, common plecs and gibbies start looking for meatier foods.
Shrimp pellets, sinking wafers, worms, or anything that hits the bottom.
--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com
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>
> I'm a newbie to the group and picking up my freshwater Aquarium Hobby
> after 20 years.
>
> I had fish and two tanks as a youth for about 10 years up to the start
> of college.
>
> So I have a few questions I'd like to ask the group over the next few
> weeks. I hope I don't overtly display my ignorance. It seems I've
> forgotten a few things over the years and their are quite a few outright
> experts here. Anyway:
>
> Question #1:
>
> I restarted with a 20 community tank. Lots of plants (Amazon Swords and
> floating Hornwort), a couple homemade caves, some small apple snails
> which came in with the plants , a Betta couple, a rainbow shark, a
> Common Pleco, and (finally) 5 swordtails to fill out the tank.
>
> The tank is just over 4 months old and seems to be doing very well.
> Fish are getting along with each other and the water is crystal clear.
>
> I'm worried about my Pleco though. He doing really well, but perhaps
> too well. I got him for very cheap and he was described as small but
> was already an inch long. I'm guessing he is 4 inches now and has a
> large girth. Will he outgrow the tank? He is quite nocturnal, and
> somehow manages to stuff himself inside my homemade rock caves (with
> tail often sticking out) during the day. I was under the impression
> that most fish will only grow so big in accordance with the size of
> their environment.
>
> Will he outgrow my Tank? I only have one and don't want to give him
> away. He is a beautiful monster! Am I overcrowding my small Tank?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Trev
>
> --
> Trevor Stenson