Pleco with fire eel and BGK in 350g tank

[Supalah17]

Royals are VERY slow growers to reach 2' would probably take 15+ years. Royals are pretty docile and only really shove around other royals and only if there isn't enough hides. Also check out L330 aka spotted royal

Any idea on an average life span for the L027/330? Also provided they have the room, will they realistically reach 2' long at all?

 

[thefredpit]

Holy cow that's slow, is it that gradual the whole way, Or do they growth spurt up to a certain size range and then max out slow? Also, are there any reliable places in the US where you can order specific plecos? My LFS tends to have a decent selection, but the varieties are somewhat random...

wet spot is the best place n my mind

So I'm currently designing my hard scape and planting and stuff for this tank as well as figuring out rough costs for stuff. The more I look at Royals, the more I like them, and my LFS is telling me they always have at least 3-5 varieties of Royals in stock. But my question comes to this, since I have been planning on using a lot of driftwood in the tank for hardscaping, including his massive cave, will he end up eating/destroying it all (it's going to all be well covered in java moss before any fish are actually in it), and would placing some smaller pieces (with no moss) around his cave entrances hopefully keep him only munching on intended wood?

in the 6 months I've had my L027a and L190 I haven't even noticed the driftwood diminishing

Your future panaque has already destroyed it from the future... They are why we can have nice things!

But seriously, even if he doesn't eat the moss which im guessing he would if only to get down to the wood, they are the least graceful pleco there is. They are basically A->B swimmers because their armor is much thicker than most plecos. So they will not be gentle on plants.

Also, I am guessing that BGK dont like a ton of water movement which you might want (and most plecos want) if only to keep the wood pulp in their tank circulating for the filter to take care of.

my 2 royals leave my java moss alone even the moss attached to the wood. As far as the BGK and water movement as long as they have a place to get out of the water movement they are fine

Well I suppose I could give a royal a shot, make its cave entirely stone, and then just keep some "scrap wood" around the entrance and exit at all times and hope for the best, maybe if he has easy access wood and doesn't need to go through any java moss, he will just be lazy... worst comes to worst and I can either put him in a different tank, or take him back to my LFS if he's just wrecking the tank... severums are notorious for destroying plants, but I have all of mine in planted tanks and they don't bother them because I purposely overfeed them, maybe that'll work for the Royal. I'm 28 and medically retired, so doing extra tank maintenance isn't a huge issue, I've got the time lol

having an assortment of easy to access wood in a secluded spot should work. Also add some cucumber they do like it. I'm like you I'm disabled and I actually find maintance relaxing.

Any idea on an average life span for the L027/330? Also provided they have the room, will they realistically reach 2' long at all?

I'm not sure on lifespan but realisticly I doubt most will reach 2' in captivity

 

[Kittiee Katt]

My L397 pleco tends to eat softer wood over the harder stuff. I have an unknown dark wood (came with anubias on it) in my tank that is pretty soft - I can dent it with my fingernails - and he seems to prefer that over the goldvine which seems harder (unable to dent with fingernails) so maybe you could use a harder wood like mopani etc to construct their cave and have softer wood around the entrances for them to munch on?

My guy like the wood that comes with plants on it that my lfs sells, I don't know what kind of wood it is but he likes it.

 

[Supalah17]

My L397 pleco tends to eat softer wood over the harder stuff. I have an unknown dark wood (came with anubias on it) in my tank that is pretty soft - I can dent it with my fingernails - and he seems to prefer that over the goldvine which seems harder (unable to dent with fingernails) so maybe you could use a harder wood like mopani etc to construct their cave and have softer wood around the entrances for them to munch on?

My guy like the wood that comes with plants on it that my lfs sells, I don't know what kind of wood it is but he likes it.

My LFS definitely has some softer wood meeting that description!

 

[exodus1500]

They can like 20+ years.

 

[Supalah17]

wet spot is the best place n my mind



in the 6 months I've had my L027a and L190 I haven't even noticed the driftwood diminishing



my 2 royals leave my java moss alone even the moss attached to the wood. As far as the BGK and water movement as long as they have a place to get out of the water movement they are fine



having an assortment of easy to access wood in a secluded spot should work. Also add some cucumber they do like it. I'm like you I'm disabled and I actually find maintance relaxing.



I'm not sure on lifespan but realisticly I doubt most will reach 2' in captivity

So as a some what random thought, what's your opinion on the common pleco? My LFS always has rescues and sometimes my bleeding heart wants to just take them (they're usually free) and they usually range in size from 9"-24+". I know they're kind of boring as plecos go, I know they should be out of the hobby (or at least not sold as freaking chains and just qualified LFS), but sometimes it's tempting to not just drop a 2'+ one in with my dick head severum if just to give them a good home

 

[thefredpit]

there are a couple "common" plecos

The one seen most are P. pardalis which are ok except they have a bad habit of eating slime coats off of some fish. This occasionally happens with the Pterygoplichthys genera but P. Pardalis is the worst offender and I had to get rid of my last one for sucking the slime coat on my banded knife.

You also have P. joselimaianus the Gold Spot Common I like mine but it decided t wanted to tear apart all my java moss

Then while not technically a common pleco it belongs in this group and that is P. gibbiceps aka Sailfin Pleco. These I really like and miss the one I used to have

 

[Supalah17]

there are a couple "common" plecos

The one seen most are P. pardalis which are ok except they have a bad habit of eating slime coats off of some fish. This occasionally happens with the Pterygoplichthys genera but P. Pardalis is the worst offender and I had to get rid of my last one for sucking the slime coat on my banded knife.

You also have P. joselimaianus the Gold Spot Common I like mine but it decided t wanted to tear apart all my java moss

Then while not technically a common pleco it belongs in this group and that is P. gibbiceps aka Sailfin Pleco. These I really like and miss the one I used to have

Well then, as much as I would love to play Good Samaritan and take a rescue common, I don't want to have it kill my BGK from slime sucking... I do like sailfins, but they're not free at my LFS lol, so I'll probably just try and get myself a royal from this "wet spot" place in the future! As an aside, I have heard that the slime coat sucking generally comes from the plecos being under fed, could that have been an issue, or are most of them just born to be suckers?

 

[thefredpit]

I know in my case it wasn't underfed and I think it is just a case of some just like the taste. You could try it and just keep an eye on them if you see round white spots on your knife or eel separate them. It is only a problem for the knife or eel if it continues

 

[Supalah17]

I know in my case it wasn't underfed and I think it is just a case of some just like the taste. You could try it and just keep an eye on them if you see round white spots on your knife or eel separate them. It is only a problem for the knife or eel if it continues

Since you seem to know your plecos, what would you say is the fastest way to grow out a pleco (pretty set on watermelon pleco and have a source locally). Does anything really help, I get they're always gonna be slow growers, but I'm hoping to speed it at least a little...