Other small plecos besides Bushynose?

[Sue Foster]

I've got bushynose.

I think I want to try my hand at another kind that isn't a tank buster.
Something smaller than my bushynose,that I don't have to re-mortgage for?
Plant safe, community tank. The 75 gallon is full of guppies. My 29 gallon is has micro rasboras of different sorts and a few neon tetras. The meanest fish in either of the tanks are probably my neons. Nothing scary at all.

[Marc van Arc]

How about

Otocinclus

?

[MatsP]

What sort of budget are we talking about?

There are several dozen different "extra small" (e.g. Otocinclus) to "small" (Ancistrus size)

The number of species in Cat-eLog that are between 60-120 (approx 2.5"-4.5") is over 260. Many of those are possibly never in the trade, but perhaps a third or so are relatively easy to find.

Typical ones are some of the Panaque and Peckoltia are the most common ones. Dekeyseria would be an alternative (and they like soft water too).

--
Mats

[Sue Foster]

I have otos. I admit I never thought of them as a pleco until I started reading this board.

I sort of live in a fish store desert. I've got one lfs about 15 miles from the house. I never see anything unusual there. I never saw common ancistrus until I was sent one with some guppies. Next pet shops are over 45 miles away and they are petco and petsmart. There aren't many privately owned pet shops in the state. I have to go on-line for anything but the same old thing.

I was going through the Cat-eLog and admit I'm baffled with all the plecos.
Budget...I guess under $25 per fish. I might go a little more if it was really amazing looking.

One of the things I like about my bushynose is that they acknowledge my existence. It may only be looking for food but at least they come out when I sit at the desk. I kind of like the disgusted flip of the fins I get out of the male when I don't dump food in for him every time. He has a small bit of broccoli right now but still thinks I should be putting more in for him. Apparently it wasn't the flavor he had in mind. Zucchini is the favorite but it isn't real high in nutrition and the variety is better for them.

[MatsP]

Obviously, we can't really change where you live or what is available. Have you had a chat with your LFS to see if they can get anything else in?

Alternatively, check out online sellers...

Or take a longer trip - many of my "unusual" fish comes from Maidenhead Aquatics at Oxford, 70 miles away, and Pier Aquatics, 230 miles away, and some come from Aqualife, about 240 miles away (but I wouldn't travel there if I didn't got to meetings at the Catfish Study Group in that area or to Pier Aquatics nearby). Yes, it's a bit of a trek, but if the fish you really want is there, and not where you live, then that's what you have to do - or paying a courier company to ship the fish, if that is less expensive than driving to the location.

I personally prefer to see the ACTUAL fish that I'm getting before I pay for them.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

parotocinclus jumbo

has a lot going for it

[Sue Foster]

How did the little pitbull pleco gets it's name? I was expecting a carnivorous giant, instead it's a little algae eater. Amusing and unexpected.

Giving myself a bull dog of a headache flipping from tab to tab looking up L numbers.

What about L 129? Seems to be a small thing. Not too expensive and I'm not seeing any red flags about conditions to keep it in. Looks like a clean tank and food is all I really need. Are they really that territorial with other plecos? I could move the bushynose. Or would a mature pair of bushynose be able to deal with a smaller moody pleco?

I noticed I'm clicking on the hypancistrus more than the others. Gotta be spots or stripes attracting me.

[MatsP]

L129

Hypancistrus debilittera

(hey, I've memorized how to spell it after 200 attempts, so I'm quite proud that I know...) shouldn't be difficult to keep, as long as you keep your water clean.

L204

is another one that shouldn't be terribly expensive (I bought some small ones for about $12 each).

--
Mats

[racoll]

Hi Sue,

Good to see you've caught the catfish bug!

There are a few things to bear in mind out some of these "fancy" L number plecos though.

1) they can be quite variable in appearance and they may not look like the pretty pictures you see on the Web. This could be disappointing, especially if you mail order fish.

2) they need warm (81F), well oxygenated water.

3) some, especially

Hypancistrus

will hide a lot, so don't expect to see much of them, or even see them at all!

4) some, such as

Panaque

need pretty heavy duty filtration due to the amount of wood they eat.

5) they will generally not eat any algae.

Peckoltia compta

, is a very pretty little fish, and they are increasingly being locally bred by hobbyists. You might be able to get these...

How did the little pitbull pleco gets it's name?

Interesting one, that. Have a read here.

[Sue Foster]

I've had the catfish bug right along only I stayed away from them because of a tank buster pleco when I was a small child. At 5 or 6 years old Santa Claus brought me a 10 gallon tank. In it were a couple angel fish, a few neons, a zebra fish and a common pleco. As the angels got bigger they turned into typical cichlids and were mean in the eyes of a 6 year old kid. They went back to the pet shop with no problem. Ate most of the neons. The common pleco was another story. I liked the big ugly fellow. But a common pleco in a 10 gallon tank isn't for long. It hurt to bring him back. I actually stayed away from plecos for the next 48 years. I admired them in shops and other tanks but didn't buy any other than otos. All this time there has been a fish tank of one size or another in my life.

This is actually a hard choice to find another pleco. There are so many out there now. Also do I blow $100 on a couple of fish that I will never see in my heavily planted tanks? What if they can't deal with my water parameters? Lot of thinking to do.

I'm really looking for smaller ones. I think it would be easier to move my baby bushynose to my 75 gallon. My 29 gallon has softer, warmer water species in it and doesn't have injected CO2. The 29 also has better flow.

I know they might not look like the pretty pictures on the net. People put their best pictures up not the junk shots.

I intend to just keep 4 of my 8 bushynose. I have one near mature pair of albinos. The two younger albinos need to go. The dark babies will be here for some time yet.
But even that's hard. Last time I gave away excess guppies I had more morons contact me than I care to think about. It could be worse for a fish that isn't totally understood. I gave away only a few guppies because I felt the new owner had to be at least smarter than the fish.