common pleco size

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yea i dont want to tell him to do that bc i dont know them that well. they are just my friends uncles family. they have a 'giant backyard pond' that they can put him in during the summer if they chose too. p.s a 'giant backyard pond' in omaha nebraska is about 10x4x2. it is the largest one that ive seen in someones backyard around here.
 
There are many cool looking plecos that will fit great in a 30 gal. Goolge plecos and check them out. Not all of them cost an arm and a leg either. IMO commons belong in 90 gallons and up and that is just for one.
 
thanks. im planning to go to some LFS today to look for small pleco's or other small suckerfish for my 30. if i cant find a small pleco, preferably a bristlenose or two, then i will just get about 3-5 otocinclus.
 
ryanj612;3953669; said:
ok i will try to find my pleco a home. but i will have to wait till summer to move him. i have a question though. if i do find someone that wants a big pleco, how big should the tank be?
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For a common pleco the footprint(the bottom of the tank) should be at the smallest 24" x 48" . Many people squeeze them in an 18" deep tank(front to back) but a 2 foot pleco can't turn around with hitting the glass.

Edit: There are also other smaller plecos such as the clown pleco or tiger pleco that would do fine in a 30 gallon, however they are not very active.
 
thanks warborg. i was planning on putting him up for sale on this site. but i would like someone in the Omaha Nebraska area (upto an hours drive) to buy it bc it would be pick up or drop off only.
 
hey i found a kids pleco that is in a worse situation than mine. he has had a pleco in a 20 gallon tank for 13 years, the pleco is about 12 inches long.

has anyone heard of a common pleco growing as fast as mine has, 5-6 inches in 10 months?
 
has anyone heard of a common pleco growing as fast as mine has, 5-6 inches in 10 months?
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Some can grow at an inch per month in ideal conditons, so nothing at all unusual about that growth.

One of the problems is that "Common" plecos are actually several different species. Some certainly do grow to 2ft long, others look almost identical but max out at only 12".

But as for tank size, I would try for a tank 4X the plecos length, and at least the same depth as the fish is long. So if your tank is 36" long, you want the pleco out before it get to over 8"

Yours hasn't been mistreated yet, but it needs a bigger home or you are going to start stunting it's growth, and the waste it produces will start affecting your other fish. If you could maintian the water quality it would just keep growing in spite of the tank size, untill it couldn't physically turn around anyway.

Ian
 
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