PlanetCatfish.com

Hi new the the forums.
I want to breed plecos so b4 i go out to buy plecos for breeding i was wundering how can i make my tank grow alot of algae? i lefted a 20 gallon with water out in the sun for about 2 weeks now and theres no algae at all!!! wat else can i do for algae growth? the reason i wanna grow algae is because i want to have food ready for new born plecos as soon as their born.

thanx in advance

you probably know this already, but not all plecos eat algae. Ancistrus and Sturisoma for example love it, but Hypancistrus won't touch the stuff. What are planning to breed?

In answer to your question though, the best way to get loads of algae is to spend loads of time and money trying to do a really good planted tank. i guarantee, if you try all the tricks in the book to get rid of it, you'll end up with loads!

seriously though, what algae wants is warm water with lots of light, and nutrients (nitrates and phosphates). not good for fish, so you'd do best to set up an algae tank and grow it on rocks to move into your rearing tanks.

If you want to farm algae here are some ideas.

And another point of view: Algae isn't really necessary to breed algae-eating plecos. There's plenty of stuff you can get in your local green-grocers that would be just as good, if not better...

Here's an article that I wrote about pleco feeding.

--
Mats

since im a absolute NOOB in pleco breeding i thought ill start off with those common plecos. so i wont be that sad over their deaths (hopes never happen). i want the frys to always have food ready for them so they dont have to wait for me to drop a pellet or a vege in for them. the more they eat the more they grow.

thanx for the responses. i have add a driftwood and and fake plants to the 20 gal tank. the fake plants are full of algae. i also add a air stone and a big box filter(normally get alot of algae on these).

By common pleco, I hope you don't actually mean "Common Pleco" as in or something like that, which is usually sold in the shops as "Common pleco". Anything labeled "Common Pleco" in the shops would be growing to 8-10" before it's sexually mature, and they aren't going to breed in a tank, unless by tank you mean something that is a thousand gallons and filled with mud... [They are commercially bred in Florida, Australia and South-east asia in outdoor ponds.]

Much better option would be "Common Bristlenose", , or some Sturisoma specie. Common bristlenose should be fairly easy to find, Sturisoma's aren't quite as easy to find. Bristlenoses are also easy to sex, as the males have (much more) bristles on the head once they reach a reasoanably mature stage. If you buy babies (1" or so), you'd better get half a dozen or so. It's obviously a better idea to get some reasonably mature ones, and preferrably get the male from a different place than the female, to reduce the chances of inbreeding [they are probably related to Shane's original broods anyways, but never mind... ]

--
Mats

i went out looking for plecos
and the gold nugget pleco caught my eye.
i will pick them up later in the week. since they are so expensive 18 bucks each. i had the owner put 10 in a 30 gal for about a week alone so i dont have to quarantine them myself.

how big do they get and wats the best thing to feed them when it comes to breeding them? is a 180gal 6ft tank big enough for them?