How will Gold Nugget fare in my hard water?

[Deep Lurker]

For most of my fish keeping career I have avoided fish that need soft water because my water is hard. I now find myself coveting some amazing plecos and before springing for them I must know how they will do in less than perfect conditions. I do have a couple kinds of BN and they are doing very well. Yes I know they are highly adaptable.
The ph is at seven. I think the dissolved solids are up there but have no exact number on it.

I don`t want to buy these fish just to kill them or make them miserable, so if anyone has experience with keeping Gold Nuggets in hard water I would like to hear about it. If you have another species that has done well in hard water I would appreciate hearing about that too.

[Tony4143]

They will be fine just acclimate them over a long period of time. My tds in most of my pleco tanks are above 400 this time of year, only time I drop it is when I am trying to get them to spawn for me
-Tony

[Jobro]

Water hardness is usually never a problem for plecos to strive in. (Unless its suuuuuper hard)

All gold nuggets in the trade are wild caught animals. They are quite specialized eaters and have a hard time adapting to the industrial foods. They need huge grazing areas in your aquarium. Meaning lots of wood and surfaces infested by algae to chow away. You should provide very warm water, 30°C /86°F. They don't like to hide in caves in their early years, but need shelters to find cover. Strong water current will help them feel more comfortable.

Once they are settled in, these guys are easy fish. But it will take quite a while for them to settle in and get used to your foods. Many people lose their gold nuggets during these first 6-12 months.

[Linus_Cello]

Not about soft or hard water, but some people think that the GN and other similar plecos lose their gut flora with the use of antibiotics and medications before shipping, and when they arrive, they starve even with good food available. The supposed solution is to put them in a tank with small bristlenose plecos that could re-inoculate their gut flora.

[Tony4143]

Not about soft or hard water, but some people think that the GN and other similar plecos lose their gut flora with the use of antibiotics and medications before shipping, and when they arrive, they starve even with good food available. The supposed solution is to put them in a tank with small bristlenose plecos that could re-inoculate their gut flora.

Thank you for that, I forgot all about that
-Tony

[Deep Lurker]

Thank you for the replies. I know anti-biotics do that to people so it makes sence. Running a tank at 86 might be a deal breaker though.
Fortunately the bn are on hand.
This hobby has always been more enjoyable to me when I have a chance to spawn my fish. I never buy single specimens of anything. So in a seventy gallon with plenty of wood and caves, how many GN would you start with?

[Barbie]

These have not been regularly spawned and there are different locational variants available. You'd want to collect at least 6 from a single location. Have you researched their adult size?

Barbie

[Deep Lurker]

The largest I have read about is ten inches, so I have plenty of space when it comes time. Not in the seventy of course.

[Mol_PMB]

I bought my nugget from
Pier Aquatics about 2 years ago. We have very soft water here (TDS 30, pH 6. and Neil advised me that in his experience nuggets like it a little harder. I added some coral gravel to the filter to stop the pH dropping too far. Some of my other tanks I deliberately run very acidic (pH 5 or so) to suit different fish.
My nugget loves Repashy but I suspect does most of its eating on the surface of the large amounts of bogwood in its tank. There are also a group of giant otos in there which may have helped with the gut flora issue.
Regards,
Paul

[Deep Lurker]

Now that is interesting. I have a test kit on the way so I`ll know the specifics of my water.

Mol_PMB, care to share a picture of this two year captive?

[Mol_PMB]

I've had 'Klondike', my

Baryancistrus xanthellus

for about 2.5 years now, he started off smaller than my group of 'giant otos'

Hypoptopoma cf_guianense

in the same tank.

I've had a quick look and can't immediately find any recent pictures, but I saw him today so he's still doing fine. He goes through phases of being shy for weeks, and then at other times will be bold out front even under the bright lights.

The attached photos are mostly from 2017. I'll see if I can find some more recent ones - he's definitely grown since last year!

Cheers,
Paul

[Mol_PMB]

This image is the newest I can find, nearly a year old I'm afraid. I'll try and get another one soon. This picture does show how much grazing area there is in the tank, all over that bogwood.

Tankmates are a shoal of a dozen

Phenacogrammus aurantiacus

'lefini' and four of the aforementioned giant otos.

The tank is fed with EI fertiliser and 'liquid carbon' at about half the recommended dose, using an automatic dosing pump. I do a 50% water change weekly. Temperature is about 26C and conductivity about 200uS. Not perfect conditions for a nugget, I'm sure, but he's lasted 2.5 years with me so far which is better than many people manage.

[Deep Lurker]

Thank you for sharing those, he is a stunner! The fact so many have lost theirs in a short period of time does give me pause. Most of my fish are barbs and you can`t kill them. Before that I kept Central American cichlids and while they will gladly kill each other (the reason I now keep barbs) it`s hard for me to kill them too.