Got my 1st pleco: L25 scarlet

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888fish

888fish

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2008
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Picked up this beauty from MFKer Fish Heav3n from San Jose. Great guy!
View attachment 954658

Looking for any extra tips as I have never raised even a common pleco in my 25yrs in fish-keeping. It lives in a 170G with 15 clown loaches (4-7"), 6 red head tapajos geos (4"), 2 fei feng flagtails (3", 7".)

83F, ph around 6-7, diet of massivore, mussels, frozen bloodworms. Landscaped with sand, large driftwoods for hiding. Moderate to dim lighting.

Thx in advance.


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nice looking fish. I haven't seen one that small in a long time
 
888fish said:
Picked up this beauty from MFKer Fish Heav3n from San Jose. Great guy!
View attachment 954658

Looking for any extra tips as I have never raised even a common pleco in my 25yrs in fish-keeping. It lives in a 170G with 15 clown loaches (4-7"), 6 red head tapajos geos (4"), 2 fei feng flagtails (3", 7".)

83F, ph around 6-7, diet of massivore, mussels, frozen bloodworms. Landscaped with sand, large driftwoods for hiding. Moderate to dim lighting.

Thx in advance.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Click to expand...

TBH, you have everything down. Tankmates are good, diet is meaty, good dim lighting, and places to hide. Just make sure you see him eat and keep the water clean. Just be careful if you get another pleco, L25s are nasty mean towards other plecos.
 
That is an awesome first pleco to have! I cant wait to see more pics in the future.

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Looks great, only problem I can foresee would be getting food to it with the loaches. I'd say give them a big feed when the lights go off, and try to spread it out so there is some to distract the loaches and some a bit closer to where the plec hangs out. With that many bottom feeders I'd say go nuts with the sinking food and it should learn to compete.
 
Nice 7 pointer, first let it settle in Find where the L25 hide out is then target feed.
 
had 2 the exact same size but 2 years ago from the same person haha
 
Wow! Heck of a first pleco. Hats off to you! I took in 5 pieces at that size before. Was sweating bullets the first couple weeks because they were housed with other 6" plecos.

Both the clown loach and flagtail aren't known to be easily satisfied. I'm sure you know already that they don't ever to seem full. Always cleaning up whatever leftover food there is. You've got a lot of work ahead of you.

The new tiny L25 is probably stresses from the shipping (to the vendor, then to you), bring in a new environment, and being in such a big tank with all these fish that are bigger than you are. Plecos being shy in general doesn't really help either. (Let's leave out the potential for parasites and diseases from a newly purchased fish for another discussion). It's mostly likely not in the shape to compete for food against those fish anytime soon.

Your best bet is to put him in a quarantine tank first. Not just for other fish's sake. But for his as we'll. it's easier to make sure he's eating and to get him fattened up and strong to fight against the always hungry and not so shy shoaling clown loaches. If that's not possible nag he's got to be in the main tank. I have one word for you.

Overfeed!

Other than putting up tank dividers. There's no way to prevent the clown loaches form stealing food from the scarlet. Similar to what David R suggested. Feed a bunch before lights out. See where the scarlet is hiding and drop some food there. Also drop a lot of food throughout the tank so there's leftover food after everyone's bellies are busted. Since you don't know when the scarlet will be brave enough to start eating, this is the only way it ensure here's food available when he's in the mood.

You just got to suck out the uneaten food every morning, do WC more often and clean your filter pads a lot more often. Try to get a flash light with red lens so you can check if he's trying to eat after the lights go out. The red light will still spook them, but they recover from that a lot faster than just regular white light.

If he's brave and healthy, you should only have to do that for few days. If he's really shy, may take much longer.

Oh. If you are sure he's eating already, I have a tip. Feed cut shrimp for a while. Not too small. What everyone in the tank will do is that they'll drag a piece away and work in it. Leaving a few pieces for the scarlet to grab. If he does, he'll drag it into his hideout and he'll be set for the night.

Great looking fella. Good luck and enjoy!!
 
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