Whats the best Pleco for large New World cichlids?

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kiupuriash said:
excuse my reply but theres a vast majority of us that keep plecos not for cleaning purposes , we just enjoy each of their personality and beauty.
Im not trying to hi jack your thread or what not. Im sure Mr. toofay, Recumbent, and others. I feel its our responsibility to keep our tanks clean not the plecos. to each its own
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I absolutely agree with you and what I said was poorly stated and not well explained. My reason for wanting to get any pleco is because I love plecos, I think they are so cool and pretty. I guess what I was more saying is that I am really looking for an algae eater. although after talking with my girlfriend, a vampire wouldnt really be a bad idea, i love the look of them as I stated, I would just worry about the bichir as the bichir is really what got this tank started. I wanted a bichir and wanted to do cichlids, thats how this all started. So to spend 3 times what I spent on the bichir and twice what I have spent on anything else in the tank means I really want it to work out. As my girlfriend said, I am over thinking this a bit and double questioning myself as I dont want to make a mistake. I do weekly water changes with 1340 GPH going through my filters, I also test my water about once every 2 weeks to once a month, or if I notice something. I take full responsibility for the cleanliness of my tank. I just thought it would be nice to have an algae eater for whenever algae pops up. Plecos actually add a large amount of bio-load as I understand. I am just a little concerned that a carnivorous pleco may end up accidentally killing my bichir by slime coat sucking, and I would hate to have to remove a $70 fish. Hence my questioning of myself. I love the look of the gold nuggets, but question how they might do with the cichlids. Again, he is not cheap. I am getting a pleco because I want to admire him, and watch him. Not just for cleaning, which I dont really need right now. The cleaning aspect would just be a plus. I try not to over-feed my fish, but a scavenging pleco or clown loach would almost ensure any leftovers that dont get eaten dont become waste in the tank. I guess is more what I meant by a cleaning pleco. Personality is the only reason I am even considering the Orange Cheek who will grow over 12", but I hear they are very personable and with time may even let you hand feed and pet them gently. plus they look really cool. Looks wise if I had unlimited space or this was a pleco only tank, I would be getting a Scarlet right away, IDC about cost, they are gorgeous, but at 18"-2' he wont fit :( which is too bad.

The more and more I think about it, I really love the look of the phantoms, I love their green spots and dark green body, the blue phantom I saw today was really cool. But how are they temperament wise? Do you think he would bully the bichir? I may end up doing the phantoms and a loach (for clean-up duty, not for clean-up of the tank, but left over food clean-up). Anyone forsee any problems between a phantom and a BN, or a BN and a vampire? The BN will probably be hiding most of the time, but I'd love a pleco thats somewhat social and active (i have heard the phantoms are). Or would a rhino be a better option?

Maybe I should re-word my question to: Phantom pleco or Rhino pleco, then should I get a BN or a butterfly for algae...how would these guys get along with a senegal bichir (max 12") and would cichlids possibly eat them? I am thinking the 2nd part is unlikely, these arent africans, and I havent heard much of peaceful cichlids tearing up plecos. Again, NO COMMONS (too big).

Thanks for the reply, any reply is a great reply. And sorry for making you think I just want a pleco to clean. I never clearly explained how fascinated I am with them. When my GF set up her 30, I talked her into getting a hillstream loach, (they are a loach, not a pleco, but they look and act kinda like a pleco). Every day I go looking for where he is hiding. Unfortunately, after treating for ICH in our 30, he has disappeared and I havent been able to find him anywhere, I'm afraid he died. :cry: While we were at the LFS today they had 2 hillstream loachs, both a little bigger than the one we had, I was really pushing my GF to bring one home and get him in the 55g, but alas, she wants to wait till sunday before buying more fish.

Yes, we have a 30, 55, and a 125, we also have a 20g with a solo axolotl and a 29g with tetras. We are crazy fish people. We also have at least 4 other tanks of varying sizes in the basement empty, plus we are always online looking for a 150g for cheap so we can do a discus/geo tank. So I have 'hospital/quarantine' tanks if needed.
 
Not really into plecos. I view them more as a tool to keep my tanks clean without having to use chemicals. Don't mean any disrespect. I just haven't really given them a lot of thought is all. Very informative post though.
 
I have a L15 candy stripe pleco with a Senegal bichir and have had no issues. The L15 isn't shy too. I see him out more than not. I had some brownish algae growing on a bunch of my rock pile (covers about a 1/4 of the tank) and he cleaned it up real quick.

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Zathamos, use the search feature and you will see your question about bichir and plecos has been brought up a number of times. The answer... its hit and miss, some combos work and some dont. My rhino gets along ok for the most part with my weeksi and del but will suck on the weeksii every now and then as a territory issue. He is trying to get the weeksii to get out from 'his' log. Even though there are plenty of hiding spots they all like this one log. Otherwise it works for me but a bit bigger tank, Im in a 210g.
 
I would say the BN of those choices. Probably the safest bet and hardy. Good algae eater too.
I had a common Pleco that was almost 2' that was really aggressive to my cichlids. It almost killed a large really aggressive Texas.


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Never heard of a green phantom that gets 14 inches. There are two species of green phantom (Baryancistrus demantoides..... Hemiancistrus subviridis) and ime they usually run 6 to 7 plus inches, just like their profiles say, blue phantoms are similar size; like other fish you might get an occasional individual slightly larger. If you're looking at a so called green phantom that's supposed to get 14 inches, something is off, whether someone has misidentified it or confused it with one of the two L200 green phantoms or decided to call some other fish 'green phantom' or whatever. By the way the link is to planetcatfish, good resource for information on plecos-- do a search there on green phantom and you'll get just the two.

I've had/have green phantoms with 12" Cyphotilapia, also in the same tank as a 3.5 inch L260 queen arabesque pleco and they've been fine both ways. They're basically omnivorous ime, fairly good algae eaters and will clean up pellets or flakes if they're to their liking. One species of green phantom is related to several of the gold nuggets, which I've also had several of. The green phantoms are better algae eaters ime.

Royal plecos are not great algae eaters ime. They'll eat some, but will not necessarily clean glass and rocks as they prefer to scrape driftwood and will also eat pellets. Rhino plecos are good algae eaters ime. They come from fast moving water and like plenty of oxygen. There are different species some people will call tigers, similar markings, but size depends on species (as you appear to note already). Not particularly an algae eater, more a carnivore, similar to queen arabesque. Will eat pellets ime, really like a quality shrimp pellet (like Omega One), but some of them will eat algae when the mood strikes them, again similar to queen arabesque.

Not on your list, but I've had L001 (a Pterygoplichthys, like rhinos) that were good algae eaters and decent size, kept one with Kapampa fronts for years.

Never kept bichirs, so can't comment on that, but none of those I commented on bothered any of my fish, with the exception that some of them will eat their eggs, given the chance.
 
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