what pleco for my tank

[dragonking]

i have a 65 gallon tank with 2 sae and want to know what pleco that is under 45$ i could get i will also get 3 south american puffers and i will get the puffers before the pleco so i could see if there agressive

[andywoolloo]

south american puffers? are they like dwarf puffers? i thought they were a species only tank thing? I might be afraid they'd bite the pl*cos eyeballs. Unless I'm thinking of a different fish.

[apistomaster]

SA Puffers and plecos are not a good combination.
The best fish to keep with SA puffers are those you do not mind losing. They can and do attack slow or motionless fish like plecos are at times. These puffers have powerful jaws and fast growing teeth to cope with the primarily shell fish and crustaceans they normally eat. They rarely get enough of these hard shelled foods so it is not uncommon for their teeth to grow too long and actually require handling and filing down their beak-like teeth. A plecos hard plates and strong fin spines pose little resistance to their powerful bite.
I advise you to decide whether this is a puffer tank or a some other type of tank.
They like frozen blood worms, pond snails and rams horn snails but even these are not hard shelled enough to wear down their teeth as fast as they grow. They don't usually eat the burrowing Malaysian Trumpet Snails probably because there are no snails quite like them in the SA puffers' native habitat but puffers vary considerably in behavior not only between different species but within the same species as to what they will try to eat.
Some people offer them small live clams with a small hole drilled in the shell so the puffer has to work through some shell to access the meat inside. this helps wear down their teeth.
Try to do some searches on Google for SA Puffer + care + tank mates.
You can draw your own conclusions. There is also this pufferfish forum: http://www.pufferfish.net/forumdisplay.php?f=117
I think there is another forum but maybe it is only about dwarf puffers; I don't remember.

[dragonking]

ill jyst keep it as a pleco tank

[dragonking]

So anyone?

[MatsP]

This is a common, but a very difficult question to answer. And I'm sure people who do "home decoration forums" get asked "What curtains should I have in my living room?" quite often, and find that a hard one to answer. Some people like big flowery ones, other people like ones in a plain colour - and in each of those groups, some people like bright/bold colours, others like less bright and boldness. And some people just stick black rubbish bags to the window with brown packing tape - because that makes it dark so they can sleep durin they day, and that's more important than it looking good.

The same applies to fish... One person absolutely loves one fish, because they like that type of pattern/colour/behavour, and someone else will say "I wouldn't keep that fish if they gave me lots of money".

It gets even harder because if you go to one shop, $45 may give you severa dozen choices, where if you go to another shop in a different part of town, there are three fish that you can get, and none of them are what you like. And if you buy on for example an auction site, the price you pay for the fish may be half of what the shop would charge - or you may find things that aren't available locally.

There are about 900 species of Loricariidae in the Cat-eLog. At least a couple of hundred of those are available in shops from time to time. Some are available almost everywhere and all the time, others are seasonal and/or not that easy to get hold of.

So, I suggest you go to your fish shop (or visit your favourite fish-shopping website) and find out what you can get for $45, that you like the look of, and then ask us for advise as to whether they fish you think you'd like will work in your tank.

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Mats

[dragonking]

i like sunshine pleco spotted medusa anthrx flying cat and vampire pleco and bristle nose pleco

[apistomaster]

Mats,
I felt your previous post was very well written and accurately described the difficulty in answering such an open ended question.
You gave excellent recommendations.

[MatsP]

i like sunshine pleco spotted medusa anthrx flying cat and vampire pleco and bristle nose pleco

So of these, I would recommend Bristlenose, Sunshine pleco and Vampire pleco - in that order - common bristlenose is very easy to keep, and should not cause any problem. Sunshine pleco should also do well in an established tank - it will grow large tho', so will need a 120g tank or thereabouts (note: a 125g tank is not good enough, as it's too narrow back to front). Vampire pleco, being a Leporacanthicus will grow fairly large, and can be a little bit sensitive, but in general not hard to keep. Needs the most meaty diet of the ones I've listed. I would also recommend that you don't mix all of these in one tan.

Obviously, assuming they are achievable in your budget. The flat Ancistrus species ("medusa") are quite difficult to keep in tanks, and not a good beginner fish. The same applies to the Pseudolithoxus species (Anthrax flying cat, and related species).

--
Mats

[dragonking]

ok ill guess ill get bristle nose plecos then

[MatsP]

It certainly is a good starter pleco! You can always get others, once you get used to keeping them...

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Mats