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I am new to the pleco world, I have a heavily planted 55 gallon tank. There is no driftwood in the tank but do have plenty of rocks. I would like to get some small plecos that don't require driftwood and will be good with a South American community of fish.
Thanks for your input.

A Otocinclus sp.
Eat`s the alga that growes on your plant`s

What fish do you currently have in the tank? What's the temperature in the tank? Any particular "theme" to match?

Oto's are a great suggestion. I couldn't think of anything my self. But if you have any big/hungry fishes, Oto's may be a little bit on the small [easily eaten] side...

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Mats

how about an LDA25 Pitbull pl*co
they would fit the bill
sue

There are currently no fish in the tank, it is newly planted. The substrate is ecco-complete. The temp is about 78F. I am thinking about some rams, apistgramma, corys and some tetras.

grobered

I agree with suezbele, LDA-25 or you could go a little larger with LDA-08

The best algae-eaters for planted tanks are without doubt the smaller species. You just need a few more, rather than having a single bigger one. Bigger pleces tend to avoid thinner leaves/branches on the plants.

LDA-08 certainly grows too big for doing a good job in a tank with thin-leaved plants. If it's full of big-/thick-leafed plants, such as Amazon Swords, Anubia's, etc, then that's a different story. But if it's got Vallice (Valisneria sp.) and/or Cabomba and the like, then the smaller species will be better suited.

is just about small enough, but I think I would go for the more "traditional" Otocinclus species, for it's ability to keep EVERYTHING clean. Hypopoptoma is another specie that is often sold as "Otocinclus" in the shops, and they do the same thing, they are just a different family [just in case you end up at a really good shop that makes the differentiation and you think they aren't just as good].

Just my opinion of course.

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Mats

I would think that LDA008 are a bit too bulky for a planted tank, they'll trash the plants (uprooting, damaging and eating them) when they get past 4"

I would recommend Otocinclus, Farlowella and Sturisoma for that tank.


I keep all of these and they're great.

racoll wrote:I would think that LDA008 are a bit too bulky for a planted tank, they'll trash the plants (uprooting, damaging and eating them) when they get past 4"

And you'd be writing off to the Guinness Book of Records for the largest . Or is it just that the Cat-eLog is wrong again, and the real max size for these guys are bigger than 70mm?

My that are a good 3"+ don't uproot plants in my tanks, but I agree that big plecos can and will uproot plants.

Farlowella and Sturisoma aren't just nice suggestions and good algae eaters, but also very pretty fish... I haven't kept them, but I would like to at some time or another... So many fish, not enough tanks... Must build that fish room...

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Mats

only 70mm!

I thought they reached about the same as A.sp3. I'm sure i've seen them bigger than that, but maybe those weren't real A.claro.

The amount of uprooting they do will depend on how dense the planting is i suppose. the initial post did say heavily planted. what that means to me is a jungle with very few open areas.

I think i need a fishroom too!