Which pleco to buy?

artgecko · Post by **artgecko** » 17 Mar 2003, 03:52

Being new to cats, and fancy plecos in particular, I'd like some help deciding which pleco to add to my community next. In my area the lfs doesn't carry fancies very often, so when one is available I'm always tempted to buy it

I've currently got a 10gl planted community and a 46gl planted community. Here's what I currently have stocked in the tanks.

10gl:
4 schwartzii cory cats
1 clown pleco
1 female krib
waterchanges: 2 50% changes a week

46gl bowfront 36" x 12" (end width) and 20" (middle width) 20" high:
7 peppered cory cats
3 yo-yo loaches
1 rubberlip pleco
1 bristlenose pleco
1 angel
7 cherry barbs
waterchanges: 1 50% weekly

*both tanks are cycled and have rounded gravel for substrate, driftwood, and caves made from terracotta pots and rocks.

The lfs has a "snowball" pleco, a gold nugget pleco, whiptailed catfish (not sure what species) and "talking" catfish. I'm really interested in any of these cats, esp. the plecos but am afraid that they (and or the whiptail and talking cats) will get too large for my tank or be mean towards the other bottom dwellers

Which would you reccomend? They're asking $40 for both plecos (which are both around 2 - 2.5" ), $5 for the whiptails, and $8 for the talking cats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Art

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 17 Mar 2003, 04:21

I dont know much about the plecos you are looking to buy except that iv heard that goldnuggets are hard to acclimate and i know they get up to thirteen or fourteen inches. The snowballs stay small and iv never heard any complaints about them, i think they max out under seven inches. I also have no idea about the whiptale. I do keep the talking catfish ( i presume you mean striped talking or striped raphael) It doesnt really matter what talking cat you get, they are all very nocturnal and in a properly settup tank you will hardly see them. They would do good in your tank maxing out at about 6 inches, but youd rarely see them. Eight bucks seems cheap though so does five for the whiptail.

Post by **Dinyar** » 17 Mar 2003, 04:24

I'd go with the whiptails. They are fairly robust and undemanding. They won't bother any tankmates. You'll see them quite often. And if you keep up your water changes and give them a good home, they might even spawn for you. I'd buy 2-3 of them.

Dinyar

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 17 Mar 2003, 05:13

I would tend to agree with Dinyar. Of the options presented the whiptail is most likely your best choice. They are so very laid back, happy to eat whatever is avalable in the tank, and are not shy at all. But this of course depends on what kind of whiptail it is, and I've found that many of these guys can be really hard to ID...

On a related note, I took some new top down pics of mine that I'll be posting later

artgecko · Post by **artgecko** » 18 Mar 2003, 01:33

Thanks for your help!

I had been leaning towards the whiptails or the snowball...I'll try and ID the whiptail and post back..who knows with my lfs' knowledge of cats..they might not even be whip tails. They did seem fairly personable though, when I tapped on the glass one of them raised his dorsal fin at me

Are they more outgoing in groups?

Thanks again!
Art
*edit* The whiptails look most like Rineloricaria aff. latirostris. Couldn't find any info on them

*edit 2* The "talking cats seem to be these guys: http://www.scotcat.com/doradidae/grypus.htm

Post by **Silurus** » 18 Mar 2003, 02:13

when I tapped on the glass one of them raised his dorsal fin at me

Never, ever do that again. Tapping on the glass greatly disturbs the fish (to put it mildly).