Plecos and acrylic tanks

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 23 Sep 2003, 23:53

Alright, I have been considering doing a larger tank for the rays, will be building it myself, with help from my dad, setup is going to be probably 8' long x 3' or 4' wide x 2' deep. Now, I had been planning on doing a pond for them, but the acrylic may end up being relatively inexpensive, and I'd be much happier with a tank. Now the hard part...

Plecos, I was planning on having 3 to 5 large plecos in there, including 3 I have now, ranging from an inch to a foot in size, L014, L025, and L114. I had never considered them to be a threat to the acrylic, I'd always thought it was only panaques that caused problems. I was sort of bummed when Barbie mentioned these species might do harm too. I of course can get rid of them, but I'm quite fond of them, actually, and I'm hoping not to have to.

Now... The scarlet is almost always either stuck to driftwood or on the bottom, the sunshine is always on the substrate, never seen it on the side, and the L114 I can't tell, little bugger hides so much I almost never see him.

Are these 3 fish a threat to the sides of the acrylic tank?

RogerMcAllen · Post by **RogerMcAllen** » 24 Sep 2003, 01:47

Either way, isn't acrilic fairly easy to repeair?

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 24 Sep 2003, 07:34

I keep my goldy in an acrlyic aquarium. No problems yet, but he has only been in there about 2 months and he is still relatively small, 5 inches.

STINGRAY · Post by **STINGRAY** » 24 Sep 2003, 21:54

Hi .Ii have not thought about this before but yes plecs could over time damage the surface of the acrylic, thus causing misting. Although this would not cause failure of the tank , I do beleive more frequent mop polishing on the inside of the tank would be required. On a more important note. The lge acrylic tanks we bring in seem to be seamless welded and are very strong, almost impact resistant and I genuinly believe this could not be done at home. We tried to glue together a 40 gall tank in acrylic and it failed. Have you considered an alternative by having built three brick sides , fibreglass finishing them and have a lge glass front on them instead. regds Darren

skinnypaul · Post by **skinnypaul** » 25 Sep 2003, 13:25

On a similar note.... does anyone know if the textured backgrounds that Juwel make are plec friendly? Not too worried about potential damage of the background as much as poisoning the fish if it's rasping algae off it.

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 25 Sep 2003, 15:35

Hi,
Juwel backgrounds will be destroied in a six months period if you have plecos.I had one in the past in my 60l tank and after six months my tank was filled with pieces of the background and i had to stop the tank,remove the background and setup the tank again.
I wouldnt suggest you to use this background.

skinnypaul · Post by **skinnypaul** » 26 Sep 2003, 12:51

Kostas - thanks, I pretty much suspected as much.