BN Pleco's vs. wiping down the glass

[ponderingky]

Hi all,

Just a curiosity question - do BN Pleco's take the place of wiping down the glass? Has anyone tried this as an experiment? One tank w/BN's and no wiping of down of the glass/plants etc. and one tank w/o BN's and the regular wiping down routine. How have the fish done? Water parameters? Disease prevalence? Stress levels? I have read all the threads I can find on BN and their benefit in the tank but I haven't found a discussion on their replacing the tank wipe down. I am for anyway that I can effectively minimize tank maintenance.

Looking forward to learning from your experience,

[Ryan]

You're probably going to get varying answers. Here's mine.

I haven't wiped down tanks since I introduced my BN plecos several months ago. That said, I have ten plecos in one 55 gallon tank. I don't know if a couple plecos would do the job as thoroughly as ten plecos.

It should also be noted that some plecos get spoiled on bloodworms, beefheart, and other foods and quit cleaning the glass and ornaments/filters/heaters, etc.

I think the possibility exists for the plecos to eliminate wipe-downs, but there are so many variables that I don't think it's a definite. I guess my best suggestion is to take help where you can get it but remember that discus require a lot of work and there won't always be a shortcut. Sometimes you just have to put some elbow grease into it. Before my plecos, I wiped my tank down every other day for about eight months.

I am also doing 100% water changes everyday to make up for the fact that my tank is overstocked (five adult discus, ten plecos, and about ten 1" kribensis fry in a 55 gallon).

Ryan

[greyhoundfan]

I had the BNs in a 10 G QT, I never had to wipe it down, glass was spotless. Right next to my 10 G QT was my 40 G, I had to wipe that tank down every 3-days. After my BNs completed their QT I put them in my 40 G. Ever since than I never had to wipe down my 40 G, none of that slimey build up exists any more. I let my 10 G run for a week after that and it quickly started to build up that slimey gunk. They made believers out of me!!

[Ryan]

I had the BNs in a 10 G QT, I never had to wipe it down, glass was spotless. Right next to my 10 G QT was my 40 G, I had to wipe that tank down every 3-days. After my BNs completed their QT I put them in my 40 G. Ever since than I never had to wipe down my 40 G, none of that slimey build up exists any more. I let my 10 G run for a week after that and it quickly started to build up that slimey gunk. They made believers out of me!!

I will admit that they are amazing little fish. Mine are most active and hungry after a major water change. It brings them out of hiding and they feverishly "vacuum" everything. I used to feed my discus after water changes every night, but I've quit doing that so that the plecos clean the tank rather than eat bloodworms. :p

[brewmaster15]

The tanks I have them in barely need wiping down..... Right now I use wilds...but will be adding some albino bristlenoses soon.

hth,
al

[Rod]

I have nearly 200 fish tanks and well over half have bn to clean the glass, and they do an admirable job. But i have none in with my discus, i've never had any luck with them long term because i reacon the water is too warm for them.

Rod:)

[brewmaster15]

Rod,

what temp are you keeping the discus tanks at?


-al

[Rod]

Al, I keep the tanks at 28/29. The bn's seem to do very well at first, but after awhile they seem to drop off. After a year i'm lucky to have half still alive. Maybe too much beef heart as well?? My other tanks are around 23 to 25 and no beef heart and the bn seem to do much better.

Rod:)

[walkinghorse1111]

Have any of you guys, had any trouble with the BN going after your discus ?
I tried (common ?) plecos in with mine and, I had to take them out because, they started going after the slime coat on the discus.
Charles

[Rod]

Have any of you guys, had any trouble with the BN going after your discus ?
I tried (common ?) plecos in with mine and, I had to take them out because, they started going after the slime coat on the discus.
Charles

Hi Charles,

I was at a Penang discus farm a few years ago and this particular place used common plecs in the discus tanks. I asked about them and he said they will go for the slime coat, but he cuts the tail off so they can't swim well and then it's ok. Not what i would recomend, i think i'd rather wipe the glass.

Rod

[April]

whoa..thats no good...owie. i would never do that... did you see the big ones in hans tanks? huge monsters . i think its in the photo gallery. but he has heavily stocked tanks..and he said only the weak they can get..maybe htey have enough tank cleaning to do to occupy them.
rod maybe your hot weather in the summer does them in.
well i just got some..but none are in with my discus yet.

[Jarrod]

I've pretty much given up on the BN plecos.
For one, they are wayyyy expensive (19-24 bux each IF you can find any here in the LFS. These being maybe 1"-1.25" long)

All my discus tanks are set temp wise at 84-86 F.

The ones I had (bn) from the lfs lived maybe a week after the qt (30 day qt) and being transferred to the larger tanks.

They did no good on the reddish brown thing that shows up in the tanks.

It may have been my WC regimen that did them in, I do and still do at least a
40-75% wc every other day.

Even with the BN in the tanks I noticed NO changes in glass cleanliness and still had to wipe down the glass every wc.

So at this point rather than putting BN back in my tanks I will continue my wc regimen and continue wiping down the glass.

George

[Rod]

rod maybe your hot weather in the summer does them in.

That is true April, my tanks quite often sit on 31 + for weeks at a time.

Rod

[mmorris]

Have any of you guys, had any trouble with the BN going after your discus ?
I tried (common ?) plecos in with mine and, I had to take them out because, they started going after the slime coat on the discus.
Charles

I put two bn in a newly steralized bb tank with my newly purchased discus (same source) and the bn left tire marks on the discus! It looked like someone had thrown bleach on them! They were hauled out pretty quickly. They probably would have been fine if the tank had been established for some time and had other things like wood or pots in it. But I'll wipe, thank you very much. Martha

[Darren's Discus]

I too have not had a lot of success keeping bn for long periods if it's not the temp that does them in then it is the fluke tabs when i treat the discus !


cheers

[ponderingky]

Very interesting - I have 2 in my tank now - but it was established for over a month, had stuff on the glass and I have 4 large pieces of driftwood in the tank. They have run from the discus rather than chase after them. They have been cleaning the brown algae off the glass for me and the tank water parameters have stayed excellent. I know the breeder where I got my fish had them in all of his tanks. I look forward to other responses to see what the group's wisdom is on this. :)

Thanks,

[Camden]

I love my BN, I had two in with my Discus and they always kept the tank spotless even the little hard places to get like on the air hoses were clean. However I had a fish that was contispated (sp? heh) and had to treat with salt. Both BN died. I didn't at the time know why they died right after untill someone on here told me that they are really sensitive to salt. So now I have 4 more in quartine ready to get to work asap and I'm getting tired of having to wipe the tank down all the time.

[Apistomaster]

I have Ancistrus sp 3 in nearly all my tanks because they are such good algae eaters and I literally breed both reg an albinos BN's by the thousands so I have to scatter them all over..
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/P5130002.jpg
and a few more;
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/AncistrusAlbFry0005.jpg

My BN breeders do slow down or stop breeding after the temperatures exceed29C/~85F

I have never had Ancistrus sp3 harass Discus. Common Plecos, Pterygoplichthys,
and Surisoma aureum have attacked Discus when the opportunity has arisen.
Here is a Sturisoma caught in the act of attacking a Heckel Discus.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/SturisharassingHeckels067.jpg
I find the BN to be very helpful when it comes to algae eating but I eventually have to clean the types of algae they can't or won't eat off the glass..
BTW, anything more than $8 to $10 for regular or albino BN in the PNW USA is a rip. If they are also dying soon after purchase they had to be in bad condition. Mortality is very low among healthy BN's. They are often poorly fed after leaving a breeder's facilities during their distribution phase. Try to buy them at 1-1/2 inches long and after seeing that they are eating in the LFS's.