opinions wanted

new2Lnumbers · Post by **new2Lnumbers** » 15 Sep 2005, 02:45

I am posting this here and not under tank talk because the answer has more to do with the plecos than the tank. I am setting up a 75 gallon aquarium with a black background a stealth heater and stealth airline, I think you can see that I am going all black. I will be keeping a few Clown Pleco's and I was what to get opinions on what color gravel I should go with to highlight the clowns when they are out?
Thank all of you who gives your opinion!

laurab5 · Post by **laurab5** » 15 Sep 2005, 02:51

I have my 1.5-2.5 inch clowns on natural, and they are very nice. Their stripes are clear, and all 5 munch all day on driftwood. What else are you putting in. I know this sounds stupid, but You could make this a pleco species tank. Take a pleco less that gets less than 5 inches, and put 20 of them in there. You would have an awesome colony, and I gurantee this many fish would make them comfortable and they would spawn like crazy. You could do an active fish like clowns or pitbulls.

Fish Soup · Post by **Fish Soup** » 15 Sep 2005, 06:49

20 Clown plecs in a 75? I don't think that would work. The wood eating plecs produce vast amounts of ammonia. Even with great bio filtration you would be doing several large water changes a week to control the resuling nitrate.

Don

gemsonthebottom · Post by **gemsonthebottom** » 15 Sep 2005, 07:29

I think you missed the question Don, it has nothing to do with how many they can keep, they are wanting to know what color gravel to use to highlight the plecos. I think I would go with gray if you can find any.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 15 Sep 2005, 13:39

I agree with Don, it's certainly not a good idea to keep as many as 20 small plecos in that size tank. 10 yes, 12 maybe, 15 possibly, 20 is too many. Not just the fact that they produce waste, but also that they are going to need their own little hidey-space, and that's too many for the space you get in a 75g tank.

Get some small dither fish to keep the Clowns some company, and you've got a much better situation.

The substrate should preferrably be a little bit light to offset the brown colour of the fish, but not too light to make the fish shy. Avoid really dark substrate if you want the fish to be visible.

Keep the lighting in the tank at a low level, and give the fish plenty of hiding spaces, so that they feel at home.

Get some bamboo of large diameter (around 2" or so) and make some caves for the clowns. I think they prefer to have a "side entrance", so curring a hole in the side would be preferrable [Unfortunately, that means half as many caves from the same length of bamboo, but it gives them a more comfortable home, as far as I can tell.

--
Mats

Post by **Shane** » 15 Sep 2005, 17:06

There are a number of photos of the fishÂ´s natural habitat in the Cat-eLog. Why not let nature be your guide?
-Shane

laurab5 · Post by **laurab5** » 15 Sep 2005, 21:40

Thats what I was thinking, but clowns wouldn't be a good choice, my bad.