Pleco recommendations

[bcarlos]

It depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for something to keep your glass clean, none of the fish above (as cool as they all are) are going to do the job that your bristlenose did. Contrary to popular belief, most Loricariids are not algae eaters, and most of those mentioned above (L240s, L114s, etc) are primarily carnivourous.

L190/191 (any of the royals, really) will get larger than 12", though it takes many years to do so. They also produce a lot of waste.

If you're looking for a pleco to clean your glass, stick with an ancistrus species. If you're looking for something cool, decently affordable and active (though not algae eating plecos) that stays under 12", L240 is a good suggestion, as is L128 or L200.

And if you're in Canada and looking for an online vendor, give me a shout -- www.flyfishimports.com

 

[Planetnicolas]

I recently purchased an L-83 plec love him not shy at all and hes like one inch long. I love him already

 

[jbarbaresi]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm going to look into each of these.

Can you recommend a good online vendor I can buy from? Last weekend I went to a few LFS and was only able to find common sail fins locally. I think I'll need to purchase online.

you should start with some of the MFK vendors like Jeff Rapps (tangled up in cichlids) and john (snookn21). if they don't have what you are looking for you can check aquabid.com, petsolutions.com, liveaquaria.com, ****************, etc...

 

[braaandooon]

if algae is a main concern, i would definatly grab a flag tail prochilodus, would also look great with your stock, honestly should grab one of those and a pleco if you plan on ordering online to justify your shipping cost, like what was said above go with tangled up in cichlids or snookn21, both quality vendors, ive ordered from snookn21 once and everything was great, plan on ordering from him soon again, he also has a few not commonly seen anstricus plecos right now along with alot of other types of pleco, i think he even has some prochilodus also if thats a route you want to go, only bringing up the flag tail because if algae is a big problem they are a lot more efficient at eating algae than any pleco, they also eat brown algae that plecos wont touch, if you are leaning torwards a royal pleco and 10" is your limit go with a L-191 royal, ive never seen a dull eyed royal over 11", L-190/L-330/L-27 are all capable of 16" +

 

[bcarlos]

if you are leaning torwards a royal pleco and 10" is your limit go with a L-191 royal, ive never seen a dull eyed royal over 11", L-190/L-330/L-27 are all capable of 16" +

L191 gets well over 11 inches. Proof? --
http://www.youtube.com/user/FlyfishImports#p/a/u/2/YbJVGFapo1Q

Still, way nicer than 190's, for sure.

 

[moola]

LOL My L083 is super-shy! I swear the brat knows when I'm reaching for the camera!

 

[Dullamite]

What ever you choose, make sure and post a pic of what you get. Good Luck!!