How to breed plecos?
- Thread starter Mosdefenate
- Start date
I hear that you would need a (very) large pond with bnks of mud that plecos can burrow into to set up their nests. Then you would also need a male and female common pleco, and good luck with sexing those (I think males can be sexed by presence of spikes right under their gill plates). Good news is that as long as you have a pair secured and proper environment is provided, sexing them should be piece of cake. Good luck! 
yea I've heard that you need a muddy substrate too. and definately a large tank. would be a messy job, I think other kinds of plecos don't need a muddy substrate?
This is a broad question. Which species in particular are you looking at? The name common pleco encompasses numerous species. Most will be best in a large pond. It will be easier, rather than sexing them, to have numerous places to hide, and just buy 12 of them. When small they are cheap. Make sure that you have the same species though, I have seen a tank of commons with 6 different species in it all at once.
the three of the most commonly sold commons, plecostomus, punctatus, pardalis will all breed nicely in a pond, with mud as a lining. there is also not that much point in breeding them (unless its just for your own satisfaction) as they are so commonly farm bred.
wasnt really picking commons but other plecos i figured it would be just set up the right environment, but more of how to sex them?
If you want to breed plecos, try BNs. they are no brainers to breed, and stay at a more manigible size than commons.
well if its a general "how to breed plecos" question, its not very black and white im afraid. too many different species, with different spawning needs and trigger requirements etc. try to pick a couple of plecs to narrow it down, there are plenty of different ones to choose from, some are easy, some are hard, and some havent been sucessfully bred or fry raised yet (due to sizes, not any information on there breeding habits, incorrect information etc). to sex them, you can look at their genital papilla (considered most sure fire way) but is not definate in itself and there are usually a few traits to look at. Other ways can include the presence or extent of odontodal growth, general body structure of the pleco, actual visual patterning or presence of bristles on ancistrus etc, some of which shown here http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/index.php?page=sexing_zebra_pleco . Again, it depends on the species of pleco how to go about it and getting the easiest and most reliable way of sexing them. Also sexual maturity differs between species. im afraid you'd have to be a bit more specific, and find a particular species out of the many hundreds of plecos there are known to be.
If you are looking for a starter pleco for breeding, most ancistrus or bristlenose species would be your best bet. They are easy to sex, readily available (although not necessarily common with some species) and quite easy to start breeding. I've put a lot of information on MFK (use search or if cant find them can link them for you) in various places about breeding them, and there are lots of articles out there on many of the 55+species in this genus.
If you are looking for a starter pleco for breeding, most ancistrus or bristlenose species would be your best bet. They are easy to sex, readily available (although not necessarily common with some species) and quite easy to start breeding. I've put a lot of information on MFK (use search or if cant find them can link them for you) in various places about breeding them, and there are lots of articles out there on many of the 55+species in this genus.