Royal Pleco Growth

Ezekial · Post by **Ezekial** » 09 Mar 2007, 19:55

Hello all,

I'm new to posting to this site though regularly visit others. I have a question about my royal pleco and this seems to be the best place to ask it.

I have been keeping fish for 15+ years. I currently have a 60 gallon tank which houses a royal pleco (~5-6"), L001 pleco (~8"), a blue acara (5"), a rainbow cichlid (4"), and 3 clown loaches (3-5"). It has several hiding places and two pieces of driftwood. I run 2 Emperor 400 HOB filters. Water change schedule is 50-70% every 5-7 days and ammonia and nitrite are always at 0 and nitrate is generally below 10.

I feed cichlid pellets, cucumber, zuchini, hikari algae wafers, sweet potatoes, and frozen bloodworms as a variety. Normally i feed once per day.

Now with all that said here is the question. I have had my Royal for almost two years now. He has grown perhaps 1.5-2" in that time. Is that normal? The growth is very slow. He seems otherwise healthy, color is great and i generally see him come out to eat every day.

I've heard they grow slowly but i was not prepared for this slow. It doesn't really bother me as long as it is normal and he remains healthy but i would like to know if there is something i am doing wrong. I am planning on upgrading the tank to a 125 gallon by this fall when my basement is finished (knock on wood).

Persephone · Post by **Persephone** » 09 Mar 2007, 21:37

That seems similar to the growth rate of my royal in the past two years. He is also about 6" now. My sailfins on the other hand have had no problem reaching 10-12" in the same amount of time.

Ezekial · Post by **Ezekial** » 09 Mar 2007, 21:45

That sounds like my L001. He was around 4" when i got him and grew 4" in the first year and really hasn't grown since so i'm assuming he's reached full growth.

Thanks for the reply.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 12 Mar 2007, 13:34

Panaque species (of the larger variety) tend to grow VERY slowly in captivity. I don't know if they grow as slowly in the wild - perhaps not, since they have a more ideal environment (at least part of the year).

Make sure you have wood, preferrably several different types (gives them a CHOICE).

Also, could you fill in your "location" in your profile (top right of the page). It helps us help you if you ever need help that is related to where you live.

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Mats

Ezekial · Post by **Ezekial** » 12 Mar 2007, 15:28

It's sounding like it's relatively normal....(sigh).

He does have two pieces of driftwood but the one is almost completly smooth and white from years of other plecos sucking on it i guess. Looks like i should replace it with something newer. Thanks for the replies.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 12 Mar 2007, 15:49

Age of the wood doesn't really matter. I use wood from the garden in my tanks (cherry and some "unknown" twisty wood).

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Mats