common pleco

[Agliata45]

I picked up a common pleco at the LFS and was told he will sort of like a "one man cleanup crew" for the tank. so far he seems to just attach himself the walls and like scrape his "tongue" at the wall as is he's cleaning it.. i bought him because i had some brown algae build up in the tank. will he clean the gravel in the tank or is there a different bottom feeder that will do a better job?
any input is welcome! thanks!

 

[Agliata45]

anyone...?

 

[ecoli73]

it will take a while(weeks sometimes) for you to notice the difference. A bristle nose Pleco might be better if you don't have too aggressive of a fish...

 

[JML1997]

he will clean a bit of it, but your gonna need to feed it other food such as; Algae discs, cucumber, zuchini, and other sinking pellets.

 

[Agliata45]

what fish will actually do a good cleaning?

 

[fishfanatic80]

cory cats are good at cleaning gravel but you have to make sure they are getting food down there from time to time and otos, Siamese algae eaters, flying foxes are known to do an awesome job with hair algae but theres fish need to be with peaceful tank mates what is your stock.

 

[Agliata45]

right now my stock is a single jack dempsey and the common pleco. i have room for other fish so thats not a problem and my JD is still a juvenile he's about 2.5 - 3 inches and hasn't messed with anything but the extremely small guppies i put in the tank for him to eat anyway.

 

[Aqualoon]

No fish or clean up crews can take the place of tank maintenance. Now that that's out of the way ^^. I have a BN Pleco but I never have any algae so I feed her a variety of veggies and wafers. My Yoyo loaches take care of any uneaten food that does manage to reach the bottom of the tank, and again their diet is supplemented by other things.

Forgot to add - as the common pleco gets bigger s/he will do less of a clean up job and be more of a poop machine.

 

[Agliata45]

yeah i heard about them being really messy as they mature, i was thinking of going to the lfs today and getting like 2 or 3 corys to help out, i know they wont completely take care of anything. I just need something to eat the leftover food and stuff

 

[fishfanatic80]

Plecos are not very good cleaners i just keep the exotic ones because i enjoy them. If i were you id add a SAE that is fully grown leave him in for a week and take him out when all the algae is gone. Loaches are a good bottom feeder as well and are very active.