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I had wanted to get a Pleco for quite some time now, but I wanted to make sure my aquarium was fully cycled before getting one. On July 13, I went ahead and purchased a Pleco at a local pet shop. It was sold to me as a Columbian Spotted Pleco for $5.99. The girl at the pet store told me it most likely wouldn't get much bigger than 7 or 8". I have a 46 gallon bow tank and I thought that this size would be ok so I went ahead and purchased it.
Fast forward to that night... I went online and couldn't find any info on this species. After doing some more research and photo comparisons, it looks like I may have gotten a Sailfin Pleco! Now I'm torn! I really like this Pleco and really want to keep it, but I know that it won't do well in a 46 gallon once it gets bigger. I of course want what's best for him so my questions now are...

1 - Is this a Sailfin Pleco?

2 - How fast will he grow?

3 - Is it true that fish will grow only as large at the aquarium allows or is this a myth?

I'm new to fish keeping so I haven't gotten to the bottom of the what's fact and what's not yet. Any help would be appreciated!



Thanks,
- Mandy

It's a gibby ().

exatly what he said and they get huge lol

'Only grow as large as the tank' is one of the biggest lies in the aquarium hobby. It should read 'Will be totally miserable and deformed and die miserable in a too-small tank'.

The irresponsibility of some retailers to sell fish to customers that will get too large for all but the largest aquariums/pond really bugs me.

In other words yes, it is a myth.

Dave

So, the only question not covered is:
2. How fast will it grow?

The answer is that it will grow quicker than you'd like. At least quickly enough to outgrow your 46g tank in about a year. In two-three years, it will be a good foot long, assuming you feed it correctly. Obviously, if you starve it, it may not grow quite so quickly, but that's not a particularly nice thing to do...

Now you have two choices: Take it back now, or take it back when it's too big to go in your tank. I'd have a word with the shop and ask if they take big ones back... My local shop has a few big ones sitting in their display tanks, which are returns from customers who had them for a while.

The myth about "it only grows to the size of the tank" is based on the fact that if you keep big fish in a small tank, they will essentially poison themselves, and thus stunt their own growth (as well as all other fish in the tank, of course). Unfortunately, that's not a very nice thing to do, and if you keep on top of water changes etc, you won't have that happen anyways, and the fish will continue to grow until it can't turn around in the tank, gets a permanently curved back-bone, and eventually dies from either malnutrition or lack of movement...

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Mats

PlecoAddict wrote:I had wanted to get a pl*co for quite some time now, but I wanted to make sure my aquarium was fully cycled before getting one. On July 13, I went ahead and purchased a pl*co at a local pet shop. It was sold to me as a Columbian Spotted pl*co for $5.99. The girl at the pet store told me it most likely wouldn't get much bigger than 7 or 8". I have a 46 gallon bow tank and I thought that this size would be ok so I went ahead and purchased it.
Fast forward to that night... I went online and couldn't find any info on this species. After doing some more research and photo comparisons, it looks like I may have gotten a Sailfin pl*co! Now I'm torn! I really like this pl*co and really want to keep it, but I know that it won't do well in a 46 gallon once it gets bigger. I of course want what's best for him so my questions now are...

1 - Is this a Sailfin pl*co?

2 - How fast will he grow?

3 - Is it true that fish will grow only as large at the aquarium allows or is this a myth?

I'm new to fish keeping so I haven't gotten to the bottom of the what's fact and what's not yet. Any help would be appreciated!



Thanks,
- Mandy

Hey Mandy....Im new to this forum thing so bare with me...hehe From what i can it is a sail fin Pl*co...In Australia We call them Gibbiceps...I dont kno if they call them that anywher else. The Biggest iv seen down here is about 13 inches...but i do kno they can get bigger than that and will be unforgiving to your tank by outgrowing it very quickly.. Cool fish tho, very good cleaners wen they are young, i found them to slow down a bit wen they get older...he loooks a nice fish.

Thanks for the info!

Please understand that I WILL NOT and DO NOT support people who knowingly get fish that will suffer in their aquarium due to not having enough space, food, or even being mixed with incompatible species. I'm new to fish keeping, but I do have morals and common sense. I will not keep this pleco crammed in an aquarium just because 'I like him'. I really do want what's best for him... as with all of the fish that I currently have.

With that said... what would the minimum aquarium size be for a pleco of this size? I've been thinking of investing in a larger one because it seems to me most of the fish that I really like grow to be larger than a 46 gallon tank will allow.

Thanks again!
- Mandy

PlecoAddict wrote:Thanks for the info!

Please understand that I WILL NOT and DO NOT support people who knowingly get fish that will suffer in their aquarium due to not having enough space, food, or even being mixed with incompatible species. I'm new to fish keeping, but I do have morals and common sense. I will not keep this pl*co crammed in an aquarium just because 'I like him'. I really do want what's best for him... as with all of the fish that I currently have.

I didn't think you were. Most people who do this sort of thing, don't ask for advice from other people...

With that said... what would the minimum aquarium size be for a pl*co of this size? I've been thinking of investing in a larger one because it seems to me most of the fish that I really like grow to be larger than a 46 gallon tank will allow.

Thanks again!
- Mandy

About 400 gallon... One of the "standard" rules of fish-size/tank-size figuring is 4L x 2L x 2L, where L is the length of the fish. That means, if your fish grows to 18", it would need a tank that is 72" x 36" x 36" (or 6' x 2' x 2'). 400 gallon exactly... Because these fish aren't active swimmers quite as much as some other fish, you may be able to get away with a 250-300 gallon tank, but anything smaller will be cramped. That's a fairly big tank, and you'd better make sure the house where you're putting it can put up with a pressure of 1600+ kilo/3500+ pounds on the floor... That's the weight of a small car, in case you haven't got your "big weights" scale sorted out...

But obviously, getting a bigger but not amazingly big, like a 100g tank, would extend the amount of time before you have to get rid of it... 100g tank should be possible to keep in most houses, but of course if it's a weak floor in the house, or upstairs, it's probably not such a great thing to do...

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Mats

Mandy...I think wot everyone is trying to say is that they are disappointed with the retailer, because they should be asking the types of questions to make sure you arent waisting your money as a consumer, and more importantly for the fishes health. Lets face it, thats y all of us are in this hobby. I work in the industry, it upsets me wen others dont ask enough questions... It about the fish, not the money. Hope you dont take any of this the wrong way...thats not intended.