corys\plecos

[cobaltblue]

I keep corys and plecos in my planted tank to help with cleaning up and algae growth. Do you people with larger BB tanks use corys or any other types of fish, or just the water changes for cleaning. I was just wondering if there is any benefit to putting a few corys or plecos in a bare bottom tank, or better to have just discus?

[Willie]

All my barebottom tanks have cories and plecos, except for the breeder tanks. They only have plecos.

Willie

[cobaltblue]

Willie, will plecos not bother the eggs ?

[Chrisb]

Chris,

Some large plecos will, but I do know the Bristlenose will not most of the time.


Chris

[tpl*co]

Did anybody else have trouble with the high protein diet and their bristlenoses in a bare bottom tank? I moved a couple of bristlenoses to my discus community from a planted tank (with a piece of driftwood) and after a while the rich protien diet got to them (they liked to eat some of the discus food). I was putting in food for them also.

Tina

[Chrisb]

Tina,

Have not had any trouble with a high protein diet. I have them in both a Discus tank and a community tank. I do feed them algae wafers in both tanks as a supplement.

Chris

[Terrybo]

I can't imagine why anyone would put a cory in a BB tank. My discus eat every morsel - the poor cory's would starve to death! Maybe my discus are all piggies. Also, many species of plecos require wood in their diet, so you would at least need some driftwood to keep them in a BB tank. (Maybe someone here knows of some species of pleco that don't need wood)?

Terry

[drayman86]

I had a pleco in a bare-bottom 75g "cube" tank. In about 10 weeks, the thing grew from purchase size of 2" to well past 6". It started to chase the discus away from the food, and was even observed trying to attach itself/"feed" off the discus slime coat! End of pleco; euthanized with aquaculture sedative and disposed of.

P.S. On the up side, the tank was super clean and I never had to clean the cannister pre-filter. Pleco ate everything except its own poop, including all the discus turds.

[ShinShin]

Many plecoes are more carnivorous than others. Bristlenose eat alot of animal protein as do zebra.

[Wahter]

I've never had problems with either Hypancistrus Zebra or the Queen Arabesque getting along with discus. In fact, I think they are even more sensitive to water conditions than discus.

[Wahter]

zebra.

[cobaltblue]

Walter those are two nice looking plecos. Why do zebras cost so much? ARe they endangered?? I have seen queens at my lfs for pretty reasonable prices, but never seen a zebra except on the internet. Great pics too!

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Nice Plecos wahter !

Can plecos be added to a grow out tank with small fry?

I have 2 plecos in my community tank that were supposedly just common plecos but one which has grown quite a bit more than the other has a red tint to it which is pretty cool looking while the other hasnt grown at all and still looks like a common.

I was thinking of adding the small one to the grow out tank.

[pcsb23]

Cage, I've seen it done, one of the UK breeders I go to does that, they move the plecs between tanks. I'm pretty sure a small plec, or even a large one, will do ok in with your 1.5" babies. Like always just keep an eye on it for a day or two. Some plecs do develop a taste for the discus slime and that can ultimately lead to the death of the discus.

Personally I like the common plec but I've always ended up having trouble with them, they end up getting the taste!! I now have an L plec, its maxed out at around 4.5 to 5", not sure which one but its real cute, brown with gold spots.

Paul.

[ShinShin]

I have kept albino dwarf bristlenose in fry and breeder tanks with no problems. I see two problems with common plecoes, however. One is that they perfer much cooler water conditions than discus. The second is that they are waste producing machines which does not do much for the desired water quality of a fry tank.

Mat