hello,
I am getting a large L600 in the near future, at about 8" SL. I heard that large adult plecos can be very tricky and delicate to acclimate to their tanks. I never had trouble acclimating my smaller peckoltia and hypancistrus plecos through drip for about 3 hours.
Is there anything special I need to worry about acclimation of large plecos? any extra steps I need to take?
cheers.
Acclimating large plecos
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DJ-don
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Re: Acclimating large plecos
personally i think the 3 hrs of drip acclimatizing is perfect for a large plecoSteveC wrote:hello,
I am getting a large L600 in the near future, at about 8" SL. I heard that large adult plecos can be very tricky and delicate to acclimate to their tanks. I never had trouble acclimating my smaller peckoltia and hypancistrus plecos through drip for about 3 hours.
Is there anything special I need to worry about acclimation of large plecos? any extra steps I need to take?
cheers.
it should do the job-but im no expert
never keeped a large pleco my self!!
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MatsP
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Re: Acclimating large plecos
I think a large pleco may be more "set in it's ways", which may make it a bit harder to get it settled in it's new tank.
There are two components to "acclimatizing" here:
1. Get the fish used to your local water conditions.
How you do this depends on how much difference there is between your local water and the water the fish was last kept in. There are two parameters of the water that appear to be important to the fish:
TDS - also known as Electrical Conductivity (it's a different scale, but measures the same thing - the amount of ions [minerals, essentially] in the water).
pH - the acidity/alkalinity of the water.
If the pH and conductivity is similar, less than 0.5 pH difference, and less than 25% EC/TDS difference, then you can just let the fish get used to the temperature in the tank by floating a bag in the water for some time, and then fill the bag up [a cup or two at a time, waiting 5 minutes or so after each portion of water] with the same amount of tank-water as there was in the bag originally.
However, if the pH or TDS is not similar, then you need a slower process. A bucket, and an airline with a knot (or some other restriction) so that it drips slowly into the bucket is the right method. Aim to change it SLOWLY. How slowly would depend on how much difference there is, but a guideline would be that if your are dropping doubling/halfing the TDS, I'd recon about 2 hours. Longer/slower isn't a problem, really. You may want to put an airstone in the tub.
If in doubt (or you don't have a pH meter or TDS meter), then use the slow process over, say, 3 hours. [And think about investing in TDS and pH meters - they are very good things to have).
2. Getting the fish settled and feeding in the new tank.
This can be quite a challenge at times. Patience, tasty food and more patience. Keep the water clean, offer foods known to be good for that fish (mussles and prawns are good for Pseudacanthicus).
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Mats
There are two components to "acclimatizing" here:
1. Get the fish used to your local water conditions.
How you do this depends on how much difference there is between your local water and the water the fish was last kept in. There are two parameters of the water that appear to be important to the fish:
TDS - also known as Electrical Conductivity (it's a different scale, but measures the same thing - the amount of ions [minerals, essentially] in the water).
pH - the acidity/alkalinity of the water.
If the pH and conductivity is similar, less than 0.5 pH difference, and less than 25% EC/TDS difference, then you can just let the fish get used to the temperature in the tank by floating a bag in the water for some time, and then fill the bag up [a cup or two at a time, waiting 5 minutes or so after each portion of water] with the same amount of tank-water as there was in the bag originally.
However, if the pH or TDS is not similar, then you need a slower process. A bucket, and an airline with a knot (or some other restriction) so that it drips slowly into the bucket is the right method. Aim to change it SLOWLY. How slowly would depend on how much difference there is, but a guideline would be that if your are dropping doubling/halfing the TDS, I'd recon about 2 hours. Longer/slower isn't a problem, really. You may want to put an airstone in the tub.
If in doubt (or you don't have a pH meter or TDS meter), then use the slow process over, say, 3 hours. [And think about investing in TDS and pH meters - they are very good things to have).
2. Getting the fish settled and feeding in the new tank.
This can be quite a challenge at times. Patience, tasty food and more patience. Keep the water clean, offer foods known to be good for that fish (mussles and prawns are good for Pseudacanthicus).
--
Mats
Re: Acclimating large plecos
Hi
Just to add if in the water in a bucket they also could need air line this also helps mix the two types of water and a spare heater when acclimatizing over long periods of time then this allows you a lot more than 2 hours to do the job and no worries.
Jerry
Just to add if in the water in a bucket they also could need air line this also helps mix the two types of water and a spare heater when acclimatizing over long periods of time then this allows you a lot more than 2 hours to do the job and no worries.
Jerry
Caution is a most valuable asset in fish keeping, especially if you are the fish.
Re: Acclimating large plecos
like others have said before me, looks like you have gotten the actual acclimation process worked out.
The only challenge is to get the big dude settled into its tank. Try finding out what it was fed before so you can provide the same food at first to ensure its eating well. Also keeping the lights dim is a good idea too.
The only challenge is to get the big dude settled into its tank. Try finding out what it was fed before so you can provide the same food at first to ensure its eating well. Also keeping the lights dim is a good idea too.