New to pleco.

[josephjeon]

I bought a common pleco a few days ago with the idea that it would make my tank look cleaner. I am not exactly sure if this is true because my tank was never dirty to begin with, but I just want to clear things up:
do plecos really make the tanks look cleaner (like the glass and the props in it) or is it just like any other fish and just creates more waste than it does good? And I give my pleco a algae wafer every night (the pleco is about 8 inches long) and my tank is 125 gallons.

 

[KittyKatFish100]

Plecos do eat algae off of glass and ornaments in the tank and can make it look cleaner but they produce a lot of waste. At that size your pleco will need driftwood and fruits/vegies and can't survive on just algae wafers

 

[NixMix]

Plecos do eat algae off of glass and ornaments in the tank and can make it look cleaner but they produce a lot of waste. At that size your pleco will need driftwood and fruits/vegies and can't survive on just algae wafers

+1.... you'll definitely need some extra stuff to keep it happy and not starving. Peas, green beans, mango, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, etc.... All of my plecos go crazy for the zucch.

 

[vaine111]

Commons mainly eat the algea at a young age, they usually feed a mostly carnivorus diet mixed with some greens after about 5-6" and leave the algea to the pool boy.
It is a misconception that they will make the tank cleaner, especially seeing you have one of the dirtiest plecos out of all of them, they can poop strands 3 or more feet at times
A good algea eater is a bristlenose pleco, or even better a Flagtail prochilodus(fei feng).

 

[josephjeon]

+1.... you'll definitely need some extra stuff to keep it happy and not starving. Peas, green beans, mango, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, etc.... All of my plecos go crazy for the zucch.

That's a lot of maintenance... will my pleco die if i just give it hikari wafers? I was told that there are all the nutrients it needs in that alone.

 

[gazelle]

plecos.poop.like.crazy.

 

[NixMix]

That's a lot of maintenance... will my pleco die if i just give it hikari wafers? I was told that there are all the nutrients it needs in that alone.

Nah, it's really not any extra maintenance. just feed the pleco a slice of whatever you choose during feeding time. You don't even have to blanche it, weigh it down with a fork or something when you drop it in. Grab an extra zucchini when you go grocery shopping every week and you'll have one happy fast growing pleco.

They are some serious poopers though....

 

[josephjeon]

Commons mainly eat the algea at a young age, they usually feed a mostly carnivorus diet mixed with some greens after about 5-6" and leave the algea to the pool boy.
It is a misconception that they will make the tank cleaner, especially seeing you have one of the dirtiest plecos out of all of them, they can poop strands 3 or more feet at times
A good algea eater is a bristlenose pleco, or even better a Flagtail prochilodus(fei feng).

waiiittttt! so i'm being counterproductive? It won't clean my tank, itll just make it messier?! so i have an 8 inch poop monster?

 

[vaine111]

waiiittttt! so i'm being counterproductive? It won't clean my tank, itll just make it messier?! so i have an 8 inch poop monster?

exactly

 

[NixMix]

waiiittttt! so i'm being counterproductive? It won't clean my tank, itll just make it messier?! so i have an 8 inch poop monster?

Pretty much. But they're cool fishies.