I have read that a Pleco is not the best fish to house with Gars, but I was wondering if that is really a big deal or not? Is anyone housing Plecos and Gars together? If it is a big problem, what else can I house that is good with eating algae?
Housing a Plecostomus with a Gar
- Thread starter D Realist
- Start date
The reason people say don't house gars with plecos is because sometime gar like to sit at the bottom, which in turn the pleco will go suck on his slime coat leaving the gar open to disease and infections. I have MTS with my gar right now and they eat the algae and are a good clean up crew. I would say a flagtail if you have a big tank, but then you have the silver fish issue. It's up to you. Fish have different personalities. It could work an it could end with a dead fish.
Good point...but if I were going to risk if, I'd a a flagtail for many reasons over a pleco. Sorry Wriggles
Royals, or panques that are pure herbivores are much more compatible but its still a risk.. common plecos are notorious for becoming slime coat suckers.. which is usually what people try and keep with gar, ect.. also many species are truely omnivores or even carnivores. Do your research if you plan on adding one.
Royals do have teeth, and requires driftwood in the tank to help graze properly. I plan on getting a group in the future for my gar tank.. but my bio-load is massive atm so they wait until we upgrade again.
Royals do have teeth, and requires driftwood in the tank to help graze properly. I plan on getting a group in the future for my gar tank.. but my bio-load is massive atm so they wait until we upgrade again.
My common Plecostomus and far don't mess with each other.
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-in general, no plecos (of any sort) with gars. period. you can take your risks and sometimes it can work out, however, it is unpredictable as to when it can happen (days, months, years), and it only takes one event to allow for fatal bacterial infection to set in. people are overpopulating this thread with the exceptions as opposed to the general rule (as so often seems to be the case).
if you are keeping a gar and want to get rid of algae, scrape the glass and get some live plants to out-compete it. i've stopped keeping plecos with gars for over 10 years and have not had algae issues by just scraping the glass (rarely) and keeping hardy live plants that outcompete the algae (and if you keep up with water changes that also helps).
not much worse to recommend in gar keeping than putting plecos with gars.--
--solomon
if you are keeping a gar and want to get rid of algae, scrape the glass and get some live plants to out-compete it. i've stopped keeping plecos with gars for over 10 years and have not had algae issues by just scraping the glass (rarely) and keeping hardy live plants that outcompete the algae (and if you keep up with water changes that also helps).
not much worse to recommend in gar keeping than putting plecos with gars.--
--solomon
Exactly.
Plants are definitely the way to go for controlling algae & improving water quality. At one point, I had an aquarium that I used Elodea as the sole form of filtration, and the water parameters were pretty much perfect.
