Pleco in an African tank

[jsodwi]

I have a 29g african tank set up for my little girl. It has the crushed coral substrate and some big pieces of coral tahat I smuggled in from Bermuda. I want to add a pleco preferably an L200. Anyone disagree or had any experiences with putting plecos in a high PH tank?

 

[WyldFya]

Many plecos can handle a pH of 7.8, but 8.4 is pushing it. The L200 won't even handle the 7.8 very well.

 

[gomezladdams]

A few of the bristlenose plecos have been bred for generations to live in high ph african setups.Alot of guys that breed africans also breed bn plecos,you cant beat them for small algae eater

 

[phoenixx]

I currently have both L264 and L333 in an african tank with ph of 8.0 for the last 13 months and all is well. According to planetcatfish the L333 prefers ph 6.4 -7.2 to thrive. I agree with them becasue my guys colors are not as pronounced as they once were. The L264 has similar requirements with ph, yet his color remains the same. The L plecos are expensive, I wouldn't just mix them with just any africans.

 

[davo]

OK well put it this way, favourable conditions for any plec are going to be slightly acidic, well oxygenated soft blackwater. Hard alkaline is completely different of course. However, its not to say they cant be acclimatised, but you won't get the best out of your fish if it can stand the change. Tank bred fish would always be your best bet (and you wont find a tank bred Hemiancistrus subviridis or Baryancistrus demantoides very easily). Also plecos dont always go particularly well with african cichlids. If you still want to, as you can see people can do it with success, I'd personally go for one of the more common Ancistrus (bristlenose) species.

Phoenix, your L333 doesnt look bad from here! Are the lines just a bit smudged, or is it the colour?

 

[amesbien]

ive tried many a pleco for my african tanks.

2x commons, big enough that the cichlids didnt bother them but they got too big and had to be traded in.

green phantom (l-200), i believe the higher ph and a large water change did him off. i rarely ever saw him eat

peppermint, rarely ever ate either. A bit smaller than the l200 and he got picked on alot.

Queen Arabasque, alot smaller never really got picked on until after the peppermint was gone, it was bad idea

i havent had good look with cichlid and plecos mixed really i think its mostly becuse of the high ph and salinity. i got a bristle nose a couple weeks ago. Hes doing okay. i never see him but i see alot of his poop.

my suggestion would be a bristle nose or common. because its a 29 gallon a bristlenose would be better because it wont get too big.

 

[davo]

lol i would have stopped after the first two! I guess it depends with the exact parameters, and what the fish were in beforehand, whether they are wildcaught or not, and whether they will co-exist and not get outcompeted for food (sure this can be a problem) with the other fish and the actual species. Think its a lot of room for error. Think you'd be lucky with a L200 though.