Plecos with Cichlids

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I had a large common pleco around the 20" range that was quite agressive to a pair of festae. My male would square off with the pleco all the time. I ended up getting rid of the pleco as i didnt want it to loose an eye and its was making a lot of mess in the tank.
 
You'd be the first person I've heard with success breeding cichlids with plecos. Generally plecos are notorious egg eaters. I'm not a breeder but when I worked at the pet store we would use them as birth control in the cichlid tanks.
 
Otocinclus is one of the only truly vegetarian "algae eaters" out there. They will not eat eggs or plants for that matter. They're one of the few fish out there that can clean algae off plants without eating them. They are unfortunately extremely bite sized. :(
 
FriedFlowerHornFillet said:
Otocinclus is one of the only truly vegetarian "algae eaters" out there. They will not eat eggs or plants for that matter. They're one of the few fish out there that can clean algae off plants without eating them. They are unfortunately extremely bite sized. :(
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I feel like Bristlenose wouldn't be too bad? Although also pretty small
 
Nah I've got a bunch. They're good with plants but they're definitely dirty egg eaters. If you are going to go pleco they're what I would recommend. Also rubbernose, brown zebras and clown plecos. They all stay smaller and with exception to the rubbernose they're peaceful.
 
That pair never spawned with the pleco in with them and even if they had they would not have made it with the pleco crusing around. Believe it or not the pleco was quite agressive and would chase the festae away from his piece of driftwood he slept under and im talking a stocky 10" male, female was only around 5" at that time. When I fed them, he would eat their floating pellets and actually swipe aggressively at the pair when they were eating their pellets. The pleco seemed to eat anything it loved zucchini and cucumber too. Seemed like it didnt take more than a good bump when he swiped to knock a couple scales off. The one day i seen the male going for the face i thought to myself "this guys going to loose an eye". It had to go, not to mention plecos sh*t non stop and i was constantly cleaning. Some people like the plecos, i myself never really got into them.
 
Rsc89 said:
That pair never spawned with the pleco in with them and even if they had they would not have made it with the pleco crusing around. Believe it or not the pleco was quite agressive and would chase the festae away from his piece of driftwood he slept under and im talking a stocky 10" male, female was only around 5" at that time. When I fed them, he would eat their floating pellets and actually swipe aggressively at the pair when they were eating their pellets. The pleco seemed to eat anything it loved zucchini and cucumber too. Seemed like it didnt take more than a good bump when he swiped to knock a couple scales off. The one day i seen the male going for the face i thought to myself "this guys going to loose an eye". It had to go, not to mention plecos sh*t non stop and i was constantly cleaning. Some people like the plecos, i myself never really got into them.
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that's why i only keep one large Pleco at a time these days....i have a Gibbiceps in one tank and my SA Community has a Bristlenose and a Clown and a CAE......but the reason i didn't recommend a smaller Pleco species is because i started with 3 Clowns, 4 Rubberlip/Bulldog and an Albino Chocolate and 3 CAEs........catch my drift? :(
 
Very interesting. Makes sense but I've never though about it... Maybe I should move my royal pleco from my 125 that I want to breed Lyonsi in.
 
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