Recommendations for new pleco to add

[Jeff1192]

I really like all the different varieties of plecos that are out there now. I currently have 2 bushynose in my tank and I am looking at adding another type of pleco. I would prefer that it remain on the smaller side of the scale. I just wanted to know what suggestions you guys had. So far I think my front runners are the Queen Arabesque and the Royal (however I've read that the Royal gets in the range of 10" so I'm not sure about him).  My first choice would be a Zebra pleco but I have heard that they can sell for ridiculous prices. I don't mind paying some extra money to get a really nice pleco, but I'm not planning on spending hundreds .

Thanks

Jeff

[sas]

Hi Jeff,
    I bought some albino bn from Oenology during the summer and they are really neat looking as well as hard workers when it comes to getting rid of algae! I believe these guys only grow to about 2 inches? Maybe someone with more experience will chime in here?
You are very welcome to one if you wish, although I'm not sure when I'd be in Ottawa next? hth Sue

[beowulf]

If you wait a little there might be another pleco group order in the not to distant future.  Jetstream and Toss I believe did it last year so you might want to pm them as they told me they might do another one this year.  We got them from here http://www.exoticfinds.net/secondplecopage.html  I personally got a L129 Scribble pleco and an L134 Leopard frog pleco both nice looking and not expensive and grow to only about 4 inches.

[Jeff1192]

Hi Jeff,
    I bought some albino bn from Oenology during the summer and they are really neat looking as well as hard workers when it comes to getting rid of algae! I believe these guys only grow to about 2 inches? Maybe someone with more experience will chime in here?
You are very welcome to one if you wish, although I'm not sure when I'd be in Ottawa next? hth Sue

Thanks for the offer but since I already have 2 bn I was hoping to add something that was quite different. 

If you wait a little there might be another pleco group order in the not to distant future.  Jetstream and Toss I believe did it last year so you might want to pm them as they told me they might do another one this year.  We got them from here http://www.exoticfinds.net/secondplecopage.html  I personally got a L129 Scribble pleco and an L134 Leopard frog pleco both nice looking and not expensive and grow to only about 4 inches.

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely wait and see if something comes of this. I'm in no rush I'd really like to see what's out there and any other ideas people have.

Jeff

[jetstream]

I'll suggest you keep the same family group together, BN pleco belongs to Ancistrini family and the others mentioned by other members belong to Hypancistrus family. The Ancistrini  prefer veg diet and the Hypancistrus requires higher percentage of meat/protein in their diet. If you keep two groups together, you might encounter problem with your Ancistrini. Nice to find another pleco lover here! 

[Fishnut]

Jetstream makes a good point.  I however LOVE the Queen Arabesque.  I have one in my tank.  Here he/she is:

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[Jeff1192]

Cool thanks for the info guys. I'd love to fill a tank with all sorts of different plecos, they're just too cool. Jetstream, what sorts of problems would I have mixing the 2 groups? Would they be aggression issues?

Jeff

[Brine]

At the risk of thread jacking.....If you have not been to Pet Circus on Bank st. near Sommerset St. you might want to stop in. They often have some beautiful and exotic Plecos for some reason. I think the owner must be a Pleco nut. Perhaps someone on here knows more.

[beowulf]

At the risk of thread jacking.....If you have not been to Pet Circus on Bank st. near Sommerset St. you might want to stop in. They often have some beautiful and exotic Plecos for some reason. I think the owner must be a Pleco nut. Perhaps someone on here knows more.

True but you have to be selective as some of the more exotic ones are expensive at Per Circus but it would mean buying local which is never bad.

[Zoe]

How about a white seam pleco?  They are ancistrus family but look very different from regular BNs.  Spencer Jack has them at times and so does Jetstream I believe.

[sas]

I'll suggest you keep the same family group together, BN pleco belongs to Ancistrini family and the others mentioned by other members belong to Hypancistrus family. The Ancistrini  prefer veg diet and the Hypancistrus requires higher percentage of meat/protein in their diet. If you keep two groups together, you might encounter problem with your Ancistrini. Nice to find another pleco lover here! 

The  two families have different dietary needs.

[Laura]

Cool thanks for the info guys. I'd love to fill a tank with all sorts of different plecos, they're just too cool. Jetstream, what sorts of problems would I have mixing the 2 groups? Would they be aggression issues?

Jeff

I'm confused too Jetstream - I thought you could just feed an omnivorous diet and they would either pick the zucchini or the shrimp pellets.  As long as there are adequate hidey holes do you think they would squabble much?  I understand the ancistrus sp can interbreed with some other ancistrus which I can appreciate avoiding, but I too thought you could mix the different plecos together.
I know you're very knowledgable about them though, so I would love to know more....

[Jeff1192]

I'm confused too Jetstream - I thought you could just feed an omnivorous diet and they would either pick the zucchini or the shrimp pellets.  As long as there are adequate hidey holes do you think they would squabble much?  I understand the ancistrus sp can interbreed with some other ancistrus which I can appreciate avoiding, but I too thought you could mix the different plecos together.
I know you're very knowledgable about them though, so I would love to know more....

Me too.....tell me more!......

[jetstream]

The BN plecos will eat whatever you put into the tank. As Sas said, Ancistrini and Hypancistrus family has different dietary needs. Too rich protein diet might cause problem for the Ancistrini family. One of the common problems is bloat. The Ancistrini family needs the fibre to help them flush their digestive system. I only use high protein food to condition them or try to induce them to spawn when it's breeding season. It also highly depends on the fishes that you have; my fish crazy friend at Sault has few pairs that spawn year around non stop. 

I found that the L183 is quite aggressive even I have 5 medium size ones with lots of drift wood in a 75 gal. Maybe they were trying to setup their territory.

From what I read and found, interbreeding only commonly occurs between regular BN pleco or Ancistrus Sp.3 group (regular brown, longfin, albino etc) The reasons that interbreed didn't happen to other Ancistrus that often maybe because of the price, most of the time you only have 1or 2 in your tank as part of the cleaning crews.  Or the breeder only wants to put his effort and time and concentrate on only 1-2 species and setup a special tank for them. If you are just setting up a pleco show tank, I wouldn't worry about too much about interbreeding. Plus, people have claimed that they had interbred two species, but how many times could they provide solid proof and the talk slowly faded away. I'm also considering setup a pleco only show tank! But most of the species are very hard to find in lfs and extremely pricey! Above are just few of my opinions! Good to know more and more people are interested in Pleco. 

Jetstream.