Looking for Interesting Pleco

[Fishdude]

I have a 29 gallon tank and I'm looking for an interesting pleco that will help combat some algae problems in my tank. I have Plecos before so I know that I will need to supplement them with vegetables and algae wafers. There are so many too choose from that I was wondering if someone could recommend some very interesting species for me. Thank you.

[Barbie]

If you're looking for a janitorial minded species for a tank that size I'd definitely think you wouldn't go wrong with a species of Ancistrus. There should be tank raised individuals available near you from local club members and what not. What fish are you going to be keeping? Is the tank going to be planted? There are a few other factors that can affect which pleco fits best ;).

Barbie

[MatsP]

As Barbie explains, it's not quite so easy to just say "One of these will be good for you"...

Many of the more exotic looking ones are unfortunately not good algae eaters - probably something to do with the fact that to be surviving on algae, you need to live in shallow water. As fish living in shallow water is all too aware, predators (primarily birds like herons and such) are very good at spotting brightly coloured fish.

The reason algae-eaters live in shallow water is that algae tends to not grow in deeper water, due to lack of light.

So deep-water species live off other things, like fruits and insect-larvae, "seafood", because that's what's available at this depth.

This is probably also why the bigger algae-eating plecos tend to go off algae at an older age, they need deeper water to be able to hide - just my speculation of course.

--
Mats

[ginosanti]

How about trying a school of these

Otocinclus vittatus

If you have them in a fair sized group, they are really cool.

[sojapat]

How about a couple of pairs of Ancistrus Claro ?
Nice little cleaners ..