Plecos in acrylic tank?

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FluffySackson

FluffySackson

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2014
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So I'm finally buying a 240 gallon soon, but it's going to be an acrylic tank.....My friend owns a green phantom (I own a blue and green, along with a vampire/galaxy pleco) that scratched his acrylic really bad, making it look like the tank has unremovable algae. Quite an eyesore. Is there anyway to safeguard this? Anything that I can do to prevent internal scratches from the plecos? Thanks in advance...
 
Only carnivores don't scratch acrylic. All other plecos will scratch acrylic. The amount will depend on the individual personalities of the plecos and their size (a royal over 14" can do some damage). It is like their poop, you have to tolerate it or get glass. Only one of my 25 tanks is glass. I take the scratches in acrylic over resealing glass (many plecos will tear out the silicone from glass tanks and cause small leaks). I had to sell a lot of aquariums as reptile tanks without silicone before I switched to acrylic. I'm used to the surface haze on my tanks and don't even think about it any more.
 
I wanted to go acrylic still kinda do but I also was concerned about this. I had seen many photo's of pleco's leaving shreds of acrylic in the tank and giving it that hazed look. I don't believe there is a way around it aside from going to glass. I have not had an issue with any of my pleco's attacking the silicone in my glass tanks and I have had pleco's in them for a few years now both carni's and panaque's.
 
I have a run of the mill pleco in my 240 and have not noticed any issues with scratching.

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If you have a glass aquarium and are scared of the plecos messing with the silicone, you could put a plastic, glass or wooden cover over it so they cant touch it. My 15" common and 12" 7 point scarlet dont touch my silicone in my 180 glass aquarium, but thats just my experience.
 
Huh? I've never had plecos destroy silicone, my plecos do suck on the glass but usually they just scuttle along the rocks or chew on the driftwood....if I can't find a way around it, I will probably either sell them or make a pleco-only tank.
 
Pleco-only tank sounds better to me. I read pleco's will mess with silicone but this could usually be attributed to them not being fed enough. Although this is rare and easily preventable by just feeding your pleco like it should be. I read this here several years back.
 
That's one of the things everybody has heard but never seen.. All but "that one guy" who is pretty credible but still can't prove it..

I'm sure enough to call bs but i will still curse my own stupidity (since i knew) if i came home to 500g on the floor because my plecos ate the seal..

Hate those kinds of myths..
 
Been doing a bit of light reading on the subject and it seems that this is actually a myth. One person a vendor apparently claimed in there holding tanks for there L91's they had to reseal the tanks every so often from them rasping on the silicone all the time. A secondary person was saying this but that vendor never entered the conversation to prove or deny it. Several of the people mentioned being in the pleco hobby for 40+ years without issues. So I would say it is safe to bet this was a myth. They do mess up acrylic though lol.
 
Well, are there ANY acrylic safe plecos? From what I recall, certain plecostomus species have different shaped mouths and teeth bent inwards. Is L014 Sunshine Pleco (Scobiancistrus aureatus) safe for acrylic?
 
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