Plecomania the untold story

[Madness]

What up fishboxers? Just getting this new thread started and prepared for the NEW #aquaticmadness South American/ Pleco tank.

If you have any questions or concerns of your own stock or wants, please ask/talk away.

I am hoping to have the tank setup and ready in 2 weeks. Looking to have both plecos and some nice midsized SA cichlids together.

 

[DMD123]

Great topic, look forward to seeing what pleco you acquire.

Do have a question, I know in the past you've kept wood eating species of pleco, did you ever have issues with the acrylic being rasped on, marks left on it?

 

[Madness]

Great topic, look forward to seeing what pleco you acquire.

Do have a question, I know in the past you've kept wood eating species of pleco, did you ever have issues with the acrylic being rasped on, marks left on it?

The nice thing about the carnivorous plecos and those that enjoy the wood is that they don't touch algae so they have no reason to rasp on the acrylic. So to answer your question nope no issues with rasping

 

[Madness]

Some of my beauties from the past

 

[lloyd378]

I know I shared last night, but I want to add it here too so I remember later on..... anyways, I picked up four of these ( well five but one didn’t make home alive).

LDA08 Gold Marble Bushynose WILD (A. claro)

I’ll attempt to get pics soon as two of the larger ( males) are always on the glass but I can’t seem to grab a pic as they are skittish

 

[lloyd378]

Here is one of the larger males

 

[lloyd378]

And here’s a standard BN I got from Fishguy1978.... I love this one as it’s brown but has a peach colored border on the tail and dorsal fin

 

[DMD123]

My current plecos are a large 11” rhino, a small L001, two albino BN, 1 regular BN.

A couple pics

 

[lloyd378]

With that group of wild caught LDA08... I’ve now lost two.... the second one was belly up when I got home from work..... No other plecos ( my bn ) were injured or dead, so not 100% sure

 

[DMD123]

Since the matter of food got brought up on a different thread, I had always kind of wondered if pleco really need a high concentrated, nutrient rich pellet/wafer. Seems most hardcore pleco keepers will throw in zucchini, cucumber or raw shrimp as 'filler' for their fishes. I guess pleco have a long digestive tract from what I understand. Anyway my big Rhino pleco has driftwood to munch on but he also gets "algae" wafers. I had used Omega One, NorthFin and now NLS Algaemax, all considered higher quality foods. My pleco seems to be doing well but are these higher quality foods kind of a waste? Could I use a cheaper wafer from someone like Kens for example and still get good results?

Looking at current or recent prices, to feed my pleco the premium foods would be NorthFin $2.26 per/oz. , NLS $1.81 per/oz. , Omega One $1.89 per/oz. If I switched over to Ken's the price would drop to .69 cents per/oz.

Not that I cant afford feeding these premium wafers, just asking if it really is of any benefit to do so with the plecos digestive system?

 

[Madness]

Since the matter of food got brought up on a different thread, I had always kind of wondered if pleco really need a high concentrated, nutrient rich pellet/wafer. Seems most hardcore pleco keepers will throw in zucchini, cucumber or raw shrimp as 'filler' for their fishes. I guess pleco have a long digestive tract from what I understand. Anyway my big Rhino pleco has driftwood to munch on but he also gets "algae" wafers. I had used Omega One, NorthFin and now NLS Algaemax, all considered higher quality foods. My pleco seems to be doing well but are these higher quality foods kind of a waste? Could I use a cheaper wafer from someone like Kens for example and still get good results?

Looking at current or recent prices, to feed my pleco the premium foods would be NorthFin $2.26 per/oz. , NLS $1.81 per/oz. , Omega One $1.89 per/oz. If I switched over to Ken's the price would drop to .69 cents per/oz.

Not that I cant afford feeding these premium wafers, just asking if it really is of any benefit to do so with the plecos digestive system?

Just like with humans, dogs, cats and so on, If you eat junk food your lifespan shortens, your health goes down, you get fat and lethargic. It is no different for fish or in this case plecos. You feed them food with a lot of fillers and crap your going to get a fat unhealthy fish. The larger plecos should live 15 20 years if not longer.

I read an interesting article a little while back I am going to try and find it, but it basically touched on all of the myths or I should say a lot of the myths in fish keeping, one of them being, "Hey I can feed my fish anything because it has a longer intestinal track it can handle it better" and "this fish I must feed the best and not much protein because they have a small intestinal track, which they will get bloat easier". In this article it basically spelled out that that is just a myth absolutely false, not true.

 

[DMD123]

I looked at the ingredient list for the Ken's wafer and I dont feel its "junk food", just a cheaper alternative for a fish that my not need a super highly concentrated food like NLS. Im also not the kind to feed all that raw vegetable matter to my pleco. While healthy, it seems more 'filler' for their intestinal tact than actual nutrients. I feel as if my pleco gets what he needs from the driftwood and the wafers. In the past I used to lose a high amount of plecos until I made sure the tank had wood in it. I do believe there are lots of benefits for them to have this in their diet. My mortality rates for pleco went way down with wood in the tanks. It was just a curiosity question.

 

[DMD123]

I had forgot to include pics of my Rhino...

 

[Orthopod]

Here are some I suggest :

hypostomus luteus
LDA105 aka typhoon
L25
L24
L600
L46
L236 SW

 

[sir_keith]

I looked at the ingredient list for the Ken's wafer and I dont feel its "junk food", just a cheaper alternative for a fish that my not need a super highly concentrated food like NLS. Im also not the kind to feed all that raw vegetable matter to my pleco. While healthy, it seems more 'filler' for their intestinal tact than actual nutrients. I feel as if my pleco gets what he needs from the driftwood and the wafers. In the past I used to lose a high amount of plecos until I made sure the tank had wood in it. I do believe there are lots of benefits for them to have this in their diet. My mortality rates for pleco went way down with wood in the tanks. It was just a curiosity question.

Most fishes do not need 'super concentrated food' because that's not what they get in nature, and except for strict piscivores, they are not well-equipped to digest such food. Feed herbivores a high protein, super concentrated diet, and it will eventually kill them.

It's important to distinguish between 'filler' and 'roughage.' 'Filler' has a negative connotation because it refers to the kinds of things that are added to pellets, for example, to hold them together. These components generally have little nutritional value. 'Roughage,' also called fibre, generally refers to food that the digestive system has to work hard at (mechanically) to process. This is particularly important for fishes with long intestinal tracts, which includes all strict herbivores and most grazing omnivores. Roughage is not digestible by the fishes themselves, but it is an important food source for the beneficial (and essential) bacteria in their intestinal tracts. Your pleco's are getting roughage from the wood and/or wafers; they could also get it from raw vegetables. Herbivores that won't touch wood, e. g. Tropheus, require another source of roughage, and raw vegetables are the best source of roughage for them. Ever hear the phrase 'Eat your vegetables; they're good for you'? That's all about roughage.

 

[Orthopod]

Saw some concern about rasping of acrylic - would avoid large panaques if that is a concern. My giant blue eye might be a problem but royals like L27 and other large panaques should probably be avoided as well because they can do some damage once they are greater than 12 inches or so and once 20 inches I have watched them make instant marks lol.

 

[Madness]

It's coming along slowly, but i have the stand complete, the tank in place, bulkheads installed sump in place(sorta). Need to order 1 1/2" bulkhead for rock container then pipe in overflow and return as well as the drain. Need to get done soon so that i can place my pleco order before the ones i want are gone.

I made a list yesterday of some that are available and those that I'd like to try and breed, but the ones I'd like to breed don't get larger than 4-5" and being in the same tank as others that will reach lengths of 7-16+" is probably not a great idea. So looks like i may be setting up 2 pleco tanks.

Here's a quick list of what could be on the way soon: Looking for some Loricariidae with bright colors and unique markings and/or characteristics.
L14, L18, L24, L25, L48, L75, L91, L97, L114, L128, L172a, L177, L200, L240, L264, L273

These i want to breed
L168, L260, L397

Visiting manufactures mineral this next week to find a nice substrate or substrate combination.

 

[sir_keith]

...These i want to breed L168, L260, L397...

Put me on the wait list for getting some of these!

 

[fishguy1978]

Update? What gravel did you get from Manufactured?

 

[Madness]

Update? What gravel did you get from Manufactured?

Well heck, i thought that i posted it, my bad.

I am going to try something different when it comes to color. I've seen several use a black substrate some others an orangeish red substrate. I'm going to try:


So we will see how it turns out. I need to finish the plumbing under the tank but the 75 that i have temporarily, is in the way. So, when i am back from Arizona i will be draining the 75 and temporarily relocating it so that i can finish this pleco tank. Which i better hurry up and complete and get it going, i have several plecos on there way and figured i will QT them all in their "new home" tank.