Plecos with Cichlids

[duanes]

I agree I have been hypocritical in that I sometimes keep Madagascans with Central Americans, or others for that matter (usually temporarily though), and in truth when I have done it, to me it looked weird, and the scene appeared out of place.
Plecos are not simply algae eaters, eggs and wrigglers are an easy protein snack, and would hardly be passed up, especially when the parents are asleep and able to provide little defence.
In a varied community, why not? Unless you actually want to be geographically correct.
And I have kept plenty of plecos over time, I just found them out of place in Central American (or Madagascan tanks)
But in a breeding tank, where I actually want fry? Not the soundest of ideas.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

In the op's original post he said he did not want to compromise on breeding.Adding plecs could compromise breeding,period.

 

[cichlidfish]

I agree I have been hypocritical in that I sometimes keep Madagascans with Central Americans, or others for that matter (usually temporarily though), and in truth when I have done it, to me it looked weird, and the scene appeared out of place.
Plecos are not simply algae eaters, eggs and wrigglers are an easy protein snack, and would hardly be passed up, especially when the parents are asleep and able to provide little defence.
In a varied community, why not? Unless you actually want to be geographically correct.
And I have kept plenty of plecos over time, I just found them out of place in Central American (or Madagascan tanks)
But in a breeding tank, where I actually want fry? Not the soundest of ideas.

Aren't some pleco species native to Panama? I am pretty sure they are introduced in Costa Rica.
I couldn't agree more about what plecos eat. The sad thing is that people buy them for the sole purpose of cleaning algae or a "clean up crew". This means they often starve or never get enough food. It's cruel IMO.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Aren't some pleco species native to Panama? I am pretty sure they are introduced in Costa Rica.
I couldn't agree more about what plecos eat. The sad thing is that people buy them for the sole purpose of cleaning algae or a "clean up crew". This means they often starve or never get enough food. It's cruel IMO.

The only loricoid fish I am aware of coming from Panama is sturisoma panamense, which is one of the so called twig catfish.

 

[duanes]

The only two Locicoid species (I am aware of) endemic to Central America, are Sturisoma (Hypotomus) panamensis and Rineloricara uracantha, found in Panama and Costa rica but no further north, both are omnivorous, so egg and wriggler eating would not be out of the realm of possibilities of either. The 2nd is the twig catfish Stanzzz7 cited.
And my catfish genus name change awareness is probably very out dated

 

[neutrino]

The correct answer is there's no absolute here. It depends on the species involved, both pleco and cichlid, and to some degree the tank itself (size, hiding places, how you feed...) With hundreds of species of fish we call "plecos", there's a LOT of diversity and you simply can't extrapolate a rule from one or a few species that applies to all of them, not for feeding and diet and not for temperament, including aggression or territorial behavior. For example, trying to extrapolate the behavior and habits of common plecos to plecos in general reflects limited knowledge and experience, maybe not with fishkeeping or cichlids, but certainly with plecos.

The same goes for how much algae they eat. Some plecos will keep a tank spotless of algae, others eat very little algae, or may eat some while they're young but little as adults, others are somewhere in between. Some may clean off some surfaces but not others or eat some types of algae but not others-- and, yes, some happily eat the algae off plants but leave the plants alone. If you know much of anything about plecos, their dentition varies, some literally scrape off wood and can scratch acrylic, some don't exactly scrape as much as they sieve out microfauna from the algae the appear to be eating.

The point is you wouldn't make many blanket statements about cichlids, they're too diverse, and you can't accurately make some of the blanket statements I commonly see about what plecos eat or how they behave, they're also a diverse group of fish.

However, most of them are opportunistic. When it comes to eating eggs, it can depend on the vigilance of the parents, where they lay their eggs, their ability to defend a breeding site and, again, also the pleco species. Any I've kept would certainly eat eggs left unattended, some will simply barge in and eat the eggs no matter what the parents do, some will make an attempt but give up easily, and others will respect the area the parents are defending.

So, can you successfully breed cichlids with plecos in the tank? Absolutely. I've done it for decades, including mild cichlid species like orange head tapajos geos. But again, there's no absolute that you can or you can't, it depends on what you've got, both cichlid and pleco species.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I agree with everything neutrino said.I have had various cichlids raise spawns with various pleco in the same tank.
The op gave me the impression that breeding cichlids was paramount.
If i had a pair of cichlids that I wanted to spawn and successful breeding was my main concern I would not include any pleco species as a precaution.
If i wanted my cichlids to breed but was not all that concerned of the outcome,then I may chance a pleco and see how things work out.

 

[neutrino]

I agree with everything neutrino said.I have had various cichlids raise spawns with various pleco in the same tank.
The op gave me the impression that breeding cichlids was paramount.
If i had a pair of cichlids that I wanted to spawn and successful breeding was my main concern I would not include any pleco species as a precaution.
If i wanted my cichlids to breed but was not all that concerned of the outcome,then I may chance a pleco and see how things work out.

Imo that would especially be true in certain scenarios. For example, in a small breeder tank, probably not much point to the pleco, anyway. Or you might not want to chance it if you don't have much experience with plecos (or a particular species) to know if it will work, or don't have another tank you can move the pleco to if it doesn't (or convenient access to trade him back where he came from). Or you're breeding for profit and efficiency is the main thing.

 

[duanes]

I would imagine one of the main reasons South American cichlids seem to have evolved (and are evolving) mouth brooding strategies, is pressure from pleco egg and larval predation.
As yet, you really don't see that in Central America cichlids, but with the human pleco introductions, this may yet come to pass, unless the cichlids they encounter are pressed into extinction before that happens. In some rivers in Mexico where places have been introduced, many are already struggling, and the aquascape has become a vast wasteland.
Chiapas rivers infested by plecos, native fish on the brink of extinction

 

[dan518]

That's shocking.