Just purchased a clown pleco

megladonsharky · Post by **megladonsharky** » 13 Jan 2005, 07:39

I havent brought the "kid " home yet ... I need some info ... How fast will it grow , it will start out in an eight gallon tank with two white clouds ( juvenille) and one male vt betta ( very mellow ) ... I picked up a diy cave of slate today... I have the algea disks ( I some how ending up breeding ramshorn snails..lol) ... I have small gravel for substrate ...

Anything else I need ??? Anything benificial but not nessary??

Please forgive the spelling ..

Jennifer

stina · Post by **stina** » 13 Jan 2005, 09:40

Hello, it will grow slow cuz he/her will be in a small tank.. you need some wood inside and vegie tabs...
Clow plecos are easy, and strinking colors - definetly a good choice!

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 13 Jan 2005, 13:00

Hijacking thread: My LFS has a couple of these in stock. I've thought about getting the two...

Does anyone know if "Mopani" wood is suitable for these or does it have to be "common driftwood". I've curreently got a few feet of Mopani in the tank. It's a very hard wood, which of course is great for decorative use... But maybe it makes it difficult to eat, and these fish prefers something softer?

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Mats

Griparn · Post by **Griparn** » 13 Jan 2005, 13:13

I have mopani in my tanks and they seem to like it.

megladonsharky · Post by **megladonsharky** » 13 Jan 2005, 15:19

Thank you... Now where do I get driftwood?...lfs wood is huge...

michelle7 · Post by **michelle7** » 13 Jan 2005, 15:29

Hi there! I have clown plecos as well and they are kept in tanks decorated with mopani driftwood. The lfs should carry a variety of sizes of driftwood. It is expensive - but I love the way it looks in a tank - and there's lots of little crevaces (sp?) and whatnot for the plecos to hide in.

Michelle

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 13 Jan 2005, 15:33

megladonsharky wrote:Thank you... Now where do I get driftwood?...lfs wood is huge...

You probably want to get some from LFS (or another FS), or you could run into problems...

Try to find a piece that looks OK when cut in half or something if the single pieces are too big. There's usually a lot of different pieces to choose from, but different FS have different things in stock. There's no problem to cut it in pieces with a hand-saw, I've done that on a couple of bits in my tanks.

The wood I'm using in three of my four tanks is something produced in Africa called Mopani wood, which is quite hard and should be long lasting. But other suitable sources of wood are available from aquatic wholesalers.

Remember to soak it for at least 24 hours before sticking it in your tank, and it's probably a good idea to change the water at some point during the soak.

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Mats

megladonsharky · Post by **megladonsharky** » 13 Jan 2005, 18:17

Thank you ... I am going to find some wood ...

stina · Post by **stina** » 13 Jan 2005, 22:00

Ok, mopani is good for them, but willow? is better...
just take one piece, soak it in to the water for a period of time, boile it and it is ready to use!

no kidding, really!