Plecos with Cichlids

[cichlidfish]

Clown plecos are small enough to be eaten by some large cichlids like an Oscar.
Common plecos are omnivores and may eat the eggs at night. They can get pretty mean when large. I had one that was about 12", and it was ramming my 10" female h. Cyano. This cyano was extremely aggressive too. I had to get rid of the pleco, because it was getting too aggressive.

 

[duanes]

Plecos are nocturnal feeders, cichlid parents are severely handicapped when defending eggs and wrigglers at night, because that's when cichlids sleep. If you want to have cichlids breed, and keep fry, plecos are out.
Beside that, lots of algae growing on the tank sides and decor are the perfect grazing food for fry when they first become free swimming. Take that algae out, and its much harder to raise fry.
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[BC in SK]

Sure, it is possible to lose a batch of eggs or wrigglers, with a pleco in the tank, but let's not exaggerate!
I've had hundreds and hundreds of spawns , always with pleco (s) in the tank. Salvinis alone, well over 100 spawns in the last 15 years; convicts can't even begin to estimate how many spawns over 4 decades; jewels well over 50 times; Black belts over 10 times; as well as a number of other cichlids. Always with pleco (s) in the tank.
I suppose if you are producing for sale, and want to maximize the number for sale, you may not want to take the chance of possibly losing one or two batches. Even the smallest of convicts know to bite a large pleco in the tail and it will swim a way. Large aggressive cichlids have no problem keeping plecos at bay.
As lone specimens, or with out many tankmates, sometimes large CA can end up bullying plecos. For example, my dovii X festae hybrid was bullying a large common pleco excessively, biting it every time it came out....so it ended up hiding 24/7, until I added another pleco, and then he split his attention and layed off attacking them considerably. When it comes to really big nasty CA, the smaller plecos and algae eaters don't always cut it. BN pleco and CAE are fine with most cichlids, but don't always cut it with the really big and aggressive. Sailfin (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) or common pleco (Pterygoplichthys pardalis) would then be more suitable.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I had until recently a harem of rivulatus, they would breed constantly. I rarely saw wriggles as all the eggs would always be eaten during lights out.They shared the tank with 4 bristle nose plecs and two clown plecs.
I think once the plecs get a taste for cichlid eggs they know what to look for.
A better catfish to keep with breeding cichlids would be something like Hoplo's as they are active mainly during the day.
Like mentioned in the above post,sometimes the cichlids may succeed. If breeding is the primary objective then you increase your chances by not including fish that feed during lights out.

 

[Frank Castle]

Sure, it is possible to lose a batch of eggs or wrigglers, with a pleco in the tank, but let's not exaggerate!
I've had hundreds and hundreds of spawns , always with pleco (s) in the tank. Salvinis alone, well over 100 spawns in the last 15 years; convicts can't even begin to estimate how many spawns over 4 decades; jewels well over 50 times; Black belts over 10 times; as well as a number of other cichlids. Always with pleco (s) in the tank.
I suppose if you are producing for sale, and want to maximize the number for sale, you may not want to take the chance of possibly losing one or two batches. Even the smallest of convicts know to bite a large pleco in the tail and it will swim a way. Large aggressive cichlids have no problem keeping plecos at bay.
As lone specimens, or with out many tankmates, sometimes large CA can end up bullying plecos. For example, my dovii X festae hybrid was bullying a large common pleco excessively, biting it every time it came out....so it ended up hiding 24/7, until I added another pleco, and then he split his attention and layed off attacking them considerably. When it comes to really big nasty CA, the smaller plecos and algae eaters don't always cut it. BN pleco and CAE are fine with most cichlids, but don't always cut it with the really big and aggressive. Sailfin (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) or common pleco (Pterygoplichthys pardalis) would then be more suitable.

Thank you. Have you been copy/pasting my posts????

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Which, if any, plecos are safe to to keep with large cichlids you are trying to breed (safe both for the plecs and the eggs). I like the role of the plecos in the tank but don't want to compromise breeding

What role do plecos play in a tank? This is an honest question, do they actually serve any benefit for your tank? It seems like they're just poop machines.

 

[Buphy]

What role do plecos play in a tank? This is an honest question, do they actually serve any benefit for your tank? It seems like they're just poop machines.

TBH they're mostly just fish people like. They do some alge cleaning but for most, it's very little.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

TBH they're mostly just fish people like. They do some alge cleaning but for most, it's very little.

That's pretty much what I figured, thanks

 

[duanes]

Being a bit of a geographical purist, I believe plecos have no place in a Central American cichiid tank. Where ever in Central America and Mexico they have been introduced, they wreck havoc on the environment, and significantly reduce the endemic cichlid populations.
And as stated earlier (to me), they produce more waste, and eat algae fry depend on than they are worth in a cichlid tank.

 

[BC in SK]

Being a bit of a geographical purist, I believe plecos have no place in a Central American cichiid tank.

Given the sort of strange mixes that you have often had in your tanks over the years, such as Madagascars with SA with Asian, ect, ect . and even statements advocating keeping fishes of different types because they are less competitive....isn't that sort of contradictory or even hypocritical?

Where ever in Central America and Mexico they have been introduced, they wreck havoc on the environment, and significantly reduce the endemic cichlid populations.

What's that got to do with keeping them in an aquarium? So what, all kinds of fish have caused problems as invasive introduced, or feral species. I'm sure world wide, cichlids have caused much more damage and problems then plecos ever have. But really, damage by feral species has nothing to do with what makes suitable tank mates in the confines of an aquarium

And as stated earlier (to me), they produce more waste, and eat algae fry depend on than they are worth in a cichlid tank.

If they eat primarily algae.....then they are not producing anything that isn't already in the system. They are not "goats", and if you have decent algae growth, plecos will not come anywhere near eliminating it, but rather, control it over time. Algae that is not controlled will eventually rot away and release it's nutrients back into the water column contributing to inferior water quality. Under most methods and set ups, at least waste can usually be easily removed.