Which Small Pleco did you keep the longest

[zfarsh]

Hi, just wandering which commonly found pleco type, that stays at 5" or smaller, have you kept the longest, for how long about, and what water temp did you keep it at.

Thanks

[Igor Hotasi Simamora]

I think are L021 and L023,
It's a pleco which are lives in Indonesia you can find in the river they are algae eater and eat every things. Mine some of them are already max size between 33cm-35cm, I keep them in my dirty small pond and I think PH above 8,0, because so dirty so I keep them there to make clean a lil. bit there. And in Indonesia you can buy them with very cheap price around 10cent each. But I still keep and love them...

[jimoo]

I think are L021 and L023,
It's a pleco which are lives in Indonesia you can find in the river they are algae eater and eat every things. Mine some of them are already max size between 33cm-35cm, I keep them in my dirty small pond and I think PH above 8,0, because so dirty so I keep them there to make clean a lil. bit there. And in Indonesia you can buy them with very cheap price around 10cent each. But I still keep and love them...

I'm somewhat sure that those grow considerably larger than 5". Larger than 1' actually.

[zfarsh]

Correct, looking for a 5" or smaller (12"+ is too big) to I can keep in my 75gallon tank along with my BN pleco. My tank doesnt have a heater though, and room temp is around 23C.

[Valb68]

I swear I read an article where someone had a male BN for 27 years or something like that, he went through a couple mates and kept raising babies til the end...........I thought that was amazing

[racoll]

23C is on the cold side for most "fancy" plecos that come from the Amazon (i.e. L numbers).

You could look at the

Chaetostoma

genus, but these need a very clean tank with good water movement. What are the other inhabitants? Another option is a whiptail such as

Sturisoma aureum

.

All plecos will live longer than 10 years, many much longer.

[Igor Hotasi Simamora]

Yes you have true l021 n l023 are too big but only if they are growing in a big pond, because I keep them start from 5 years ago, I keep some in my pond, and some in my 1m tank. Now in the tank their size are around 12cm and in the pond they growing up so fast until now around 33cm. I keep them just to keep my tank clean from algae.

Bristlenose also a good cleaner for algae, but if you give them sinking pellet, zuchini, etc...
they will be lil. bit lazy eating for algae on you tank, especially the old age bristlenose.

I dont have experience with Chaetostoma..

For L010, Sturisoma aureum, or Loricaria simillima also good algae eater in the tank, but if you have a lot of aquascape plants, their whiptail wll make a lil. bit problem.

IMHO.

[Barbie]

I had a male bristlenose for 14 years that had more flier miles than some people. He was purchased from Arizona, shipped to KC, MO, flown with me to Anchorage, then shipped back down here to Spokane. I lost him to a heater malfunction. He was still raising fry at that age.

I also had a zebra that I knew was at least 15 years old. I owned him 10, the previous owner had him 5 or more and he was full size when she purchased him. I lost him to aggression between squabbling males. He was otherwise quite healthy.

Barbie

[wijnands]

Not strictly speaking a pleco but I know of one keeper who has a humbug catfish he bought when as a boy he started his first aquarium. He's just passed the big 40 so that fish is almost 30 years old now.

Personally I suspect that "pleco" haven't been in the hobby long enough to say anything about natural life expectancy

[TwoTankAmin]

I have at least 8 zebras I got in Apr 06 that are still with me. They were several years old when I got them. I know of a breeder in Michigan who has a spawn from his male zebra at over 20 years of age. They live a long time. Hypancistrus like it warm and seem to live a long time.

My breeder male lf bn which I got in early 2002 at about 1.5 inches and he made many fry over the years before I lost him in 2012.