Pleco in cold water tank ?

cyberblade 918c

Hi folks .. been reading a little up on this tonight and I have not seen any thing positive towards keeping a pleco in cold water.

does anyone have any experience in keeping one in an unheated tank with gold fish ?

Thanks in advance

CB

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cyberblade 918c wrote: »

Hi folks .. been reading a little up on this tonight and I have not seen any thing positive towards keeping a pleco in cold water.

does anyone have any experience in keeping one in an unheated tank with gold fish ?

Thanks in advance

CB

its a tropical fish.it won't survive

bogman

needs 22-28c

cyberblade 918c

cheers guys, have dropped a 300w heater in to the tank and am running it at 22.C -its the lower end of the scale for the pleco and will keep the goldies happy enough too... last time I listen to advice from a pet store !!

@bogman - catch ya on biker (",)

Sleepy

Seahorse seem to have some golden plecos in their goldfish tanks.

I have one of these in a sub-tropical tank (running at 18 degrees) and he doesn't seem to be suffering in any way, he's growing well and seems healthy although he's very shy!

buzz

I have a common pleco in my garden pond for the last 5 years.

He was 3" when I bought him from Ian in Aquatic village, he is now about 1FT in length.......... Incredible species.

He doesnt show himself during the winter but has a savage amount of alge to clean from may to Oct and keeps him happy.

Last year I had a 600L tank with 6 of them but the poo was a problem when I changed to sand as a substrate so I rehomed most of them except my L81

If the water temp decreases slowly enough he will be ok but sudden shocks of a lowered temp will shock their body and they will die

LFS advice is always a good thing to go by, but as many times I have seen fish suvive through and win!

Personally I would go by the advice of the professional, but pleco's are hardy as muck providing the water parameters and temps are adjusted very softly! They need a stable enviroment and alge to survive.

I have moved plecos from my african (hard water with high Ph, Kh of 12 degrees) to my south american (with low Ph and soft water with 1.5/2 degrees) with only 10 mins aclimation and survived perfect

So they can really surprise you how hard they are..

cyberblade 918c

buzz wrote: »

I have a common pleco in my garden pond for the last 5 years.

He was 3" when I bought him from Ian in Aquatic village, he is now about 1FT in length.......... Incredible species.

He doesnt show himself during the winter but has a savage amount of alge to clean from may to Oct and keeps him happy.

Last year I had a 600L tank with 6 of them but the poo was a problem when I changed to sand as a substrate so I rehomed most of them except my L81

If the water temp decreases slowly enough he will be ok but sudden shocks of a lowered temp will shock their body and they will die

LFS advice is always a good thing to go by, but as many times I have seen fish suvive through and win!

Personally I would go by the advice of the professional, but pleco's are hardy as muck providing the water parameters and temps are adjusted very softly! They need a stable enviroment and alge to survive.

I have moved plecos from my african (hard water with high Ph, Kh of 12 degrees) to my south american (with low Ph and soft water with 1.5/2 degrees) with only 10 mins aclimation and survived perfect

So they can really surprise you how hard they are..

thanks a mill for that ;)

.... very shy creatures - new tank so there isnt a lot of algae at the min, he spends all his time hidden beneath the rocks ive put in for him. I always try and feed him before "lights out" for the night but never see him eat the algae discs... the other fish however go mad for them even when they have just been fed.
So I just drop the discs in between the rocks to him hoping he'll eat when he's hungry enough.