Africans & Plecos

[audioslave_36]

I have a question as to what kinds of plecos will not be decimated by Africans ?
and where would I get some ? (please don't tell me bn because I have already fed my Africans $40 worth 

thanks for any help

Dave

[babblefish1960]

This doesn't really answer your question, but have you thought of an alternative, the synodontis family, they are African of course, and can hold their own with a lot of the African cichlids.

In answer to your question however, the basic hypostomus gibbiceps is a pretty tough customer.

[beowulf]

This doesn't really answer your question, but have you thought of an alternative, the synodontis family, they are African of course, and can hold their own with a lot of the African cichlids.

In answer to your question however, the basic hypostomus gibbiceps is a pretty tough customer.

Do the synos eat algea?  I would think some sort of armor pleco would be best.

[sniggir]

also depends on how much rockwork you put in for them to hide in... the more area to hide the better it is... you have seen my 160 and I have 3 pleco's in there, 2 BN and one king scribbler.  would also depend on the type of AF cichlids you have as some are just hyper aggressive, and some are not as bad

[PoisonJello]

i tried gibbicepps 1 eaten the other one still holding his own, got 2 BN they both got eaten
have a nice Ancistrus sp. (L089) they seem to leave it alone but i think it really depends one the size of your cichlids and the size of your pleco (so far all my cichlids are under 4.5", the Ancistrus is about 4.5" which is about fully grown for that species)

with cichlids i don't recommend buying expensive plecos but make sure the pleco is at least 4" or bigger

[audioslave_36]

my Yellow Labs and Acei's are all under 3.5" but they killed four 2.5" bn Plecos over night, so I tried one of my two King Scribblers in there (he is 4" long) and I had to tear they tank down to save his life two  . My Africans don't show any aggression towards each other ever. So Babble  do the Syno's eat algae ? and if so does any one one this site bread and sell them ?

[babblefish1960]

No, synodontis species are not algae eaters, but then neither are large plecostamus either, they are scavengers and enjoy pretty much the same food as most of your cichlids.  The larger synodontis will eat your smaller African cichlids of course, but that is not what you asked.  Breeding them is a problem, they are difficult, as they usually require another fish species to do the incubation period, so you are pretty much stuck with ordering them in as a purchase.

[audioslave_36]

Ok Babble would they be available through Spencer ? or someone else ? Also is there anything that does eat algae that I could posibly put in with them ?

[babblefish1960]

Yes, Spencer would have them for sure, as would Darius and a few others, oddly enough, insofar as eating algae, have you considered some of the vegan African cichlids from the rift lakes?  Synodontis species live on the lower strata, no algae there, just junk and fish, but there are a lot of cichlids that eat algae.

There are some African filter feeder shrimps as well that are larger, and of course some african snails too. Apart from that, you could always try out some larger plecos, Big Al's always have some that have been dropped off. But they will starve if you don't feed them, algae is just a garnish for them.

[audioslave_36]

I am gonna have to do some reading and see what is out there for vegan African cichlids. Do you know of anyone here that has any African filter feeder shrimps or african snails ?

Dave

[sniggir]

I would stay away from the shrimp... as they will have a better chance of becoming food... Acei are herbivors, you could always get a UV sterilizer... or if you are not doing a planted tank just have the lights on when you are viewing them... or for the evening type thing.

[elad]

Hey Dave

I have had alot of experiace with ciclhlids I used to breed them and I had alot of aggressive cichlids in the tank and your best bet is to have alot of hiding places for the plecos or if you wanted to there are some plecos like the armour and the hippo that are heavy weight contenders and I have not seen these guys get picked on ever.  also another good choice is some synodontis seeing they are in almost every african tank that I have ever had.  and by the way most plecos and synodontis catfish are scavangers so they eat what ever they find and the same food you feed your fish.  You can try some herbivor cichlids seeing there are plenty out there or try and manage your lighting situation however there are some snail that will eat algea but unfortunatly they will get consummed quit fast by the cichlids.

if there is any thing else you would like to know feel free to ask and everyone here will try and help out.

oh yes and you can by synodontis from spencer as I have bough alot of nice ones from him in the past.

hope this helps

cheers

[audioslave_36]

thank you everyone for all your info, it has been a great help.

Dave

[groan]

I had 4 plecos and 4 synodontis in a tank full of quite aggressive Malawi cichlids.
i now have 3 large BN, 2 fullgrown bulldog and 6 syno, multi's in a tank of tangs...

so far no casualties...

i think the key is to get full grown ones to start...

[sniggir]

I think you will have much better luck with them in the new tank Dave I think that it may be the amount of fish in the 75... in combo with not anough hidding spaces for them remember how rocked out my tank was.. I have only 18 in that 160 gal... and I still can have issues...mainly when the brichardi are in heat but I think you will have much better success in the 220. wel that and I can't wait to see it up and running 

cheers Pat

[RoxyDog]

I wonder if my africans have killed off my BN too?    he seems to be gone...

I have zebra nerite snails in my tank that have survived the africans for a year now, they help with algae.    my guys will eat MTS in a second, but not the nerites, well so far anyway.

[bitterman]

I have a 2" Bn in my Yellow lab fry tank, Well he got ate when he decided to eat some of the algae pellet I dropped into the tank. The Yellow lab fry swamed him and killed him before I could get him out. Poor little BN's.

I don't have Bn's in my Big tank any more as I am sure my fronts would eat them!!!

Why not get some 7" Giant BN's from Spencer Jack? Or Rhino plecos?

Bruce

[yogi]

Rhino plecos hardy

[darkdep]

I put BN's in all my tanks and most are still alive.  I put em in and forget about them, they usually hide in the rockwork.  Every once and a while one shows up, twice as big as the last time I've seen him.  Some probably get eaten but I've never seen it.

Best bet?  IMHO buy a whackload of babies when the chance arises; you can often get them for a couple bucks each.  Grow em up to an appropriate size for your fish (a couple inches works for me) and then distract and add them.  Lots of rockwork helps. 

Synodontis Catfish, such as the Multipunctatus, Eupterus, etc will not eat algae.

DON'T feed your BN's...anything...ever.  If you do, they won't eat algae as well.

Herbivorous Africans will nibble on algae.  I have seen Auratus do it more than most (but don't recommend them for most people).  It's pretty difficult to get them to eat enough to keep it fully under control tho.

[audioslave_36]

Best bet?  IMHO buy a whackload of babies when the chance arises; you can often get them for a couple bucks each.  Grow em up to an appropriate size for your fish (a couple inches works for me) and then distract and add them.  Lots of rockwork helps. 

Hey was on the right track, I did go out and by 10 little baby bn pleco's, and I have them growing out in two separate tanks(non African tanks of course )

Thank you DarkDep

Dave