How Many Pleco's Can I Have

[TrickyT]

Just recently set up my tank

These are the dimensions in CM and it has 60 cm of water in it.



I currently have 6 x 1" clown loaches and 1 x 2" Synd Angelicus.

There are 3 large bits of bogwood and giant valis.

How many pleco's could i have in the tank.

Would like to add at least a golden nugget and a tiger or royal.

Will this be ok?

Regards

Trevor

[MatsP]

If by "Royal" you mean

Panaque nigrolineatus

(or one of it's close relatives), you will eventually need a much larger tank even for a single one. But they grow fairly slowly.

You're probably best off trying to stay to fish that grow no longer than about 20 cm/8". Which ultimately will rule out the Gold Nugget.

--
Mats

[drpleco]

Just my opinion, but that tank might be big enough for a gold nugget. There are corners where it might be tough for the fish to turn around, but the tank is essentially a pond where it can swim in circles all day if it wants to. In addition, an 8" nugget is a BIG fish if grown out from a baby you'd find in a store. That would take years, if growing one that big in captivity is even possible.

Again, just my opinion, but a nugget would be OK in there. Just give it lots of current, but there's plenty of surface area for oxygenation. For a royal, it might be pushing things a bit. But as Mats said, they grow very slowly. A friend has one that got to 8" after 5-6 years from walnut size. That would be about the time to get him into a 6'+ tank.

[TrickyT]

Thanks for the replies.

The tanks has a Eheim 400 air pump powering a 12" airstone, not quite a wall of bubbles at the back, but a fair few.

I also have a Eheim 2028 external filter with spray bar. Creates a good current, especially trough my giant valis.

I assume that most plecos are compatible with each other, as long as I only have one of each so they don't get territorial.

Regards

Trevor

[drpleco]

Most plecos are compatible....but every fish is different. I have an L204 that is intolerant of any other kind of panaque, no matter how different it looks. It's fine with any other fish. Also, some acanthicus and pseudacanthicus are fairly aggressive fish.

But I've mixed a gold nugget (l177 and L18) with a tiger plecos (L02) with no problems. the only issue I had was that the tiger plec was so secretive that I never saw it.