PlanetCatfish.com

Hello everyone, was wondering if someone could help me. me and my boyfriend have been given 2 unwanted plecos and 12 neon tetras, not knowing much about them i have been searching the net and reading books to try and learn how to care for these beautiful fish. the only problems ae, they have grown so much in the 6 weeks (they weren't being feed correctly) we have had then that they will need a new tank very soon. (they are both approx 12") I no the bigger the tank the better but i don't know if i should split them up in or just get one extra large tank. They don't seen to fight much and are always together. also we do a 20% water change and gravel clean about once a week then a larger one about once a month is this enough. and lastly they are feed on a diet of algea waffers (twice a day) and then have greens about 3 times a week. plus i have ordered some blood worms off ebay which i was goin to give once a week is this a balanced diet for then.

Ok, so this probably should be moved to the Loricariidae section where it belongs, but I'll let the Moderator(s) deal with that...

A 12" pleco ideally should have a tank that is 24" on either short side, and 48" on the long side. At the VERY minimum, 18" sides and 48". Bigger is, as you say, better... Another factor is of course what type of pleco these are. If they've relatively quickly grown from a small size to 12", then they are most likely not going to stop growing until they are a fair size bigger than now. I wouldn't want to bet even a penny against it being or , which do grow to 18"+, which means a tank ideally bigger than 36", or 27" minimum short side, and at least 6 foot long... Unfortunately, these fish are VERY commonly sold as "Common Pleco", and they do GROW BIG... My LFS (local fish shop) has a few that are 10"+ that are for sale for about £10 because they are just interested in finding a good home for them [they are returns because the owners couldn't keep them].

Keeping them together or splitting them is a case of two things:
- Fighting - Well yours seem happy together, so shouldn't be a need for that. Pleco's in general has a tendency to be territorial.
- Water quality - If you keep the water quality under checks without severe problems, then I see no reason why you can't keep them in the same tank.

Your feeding regime seems OK to me, but I personally would probably add more greens and cut a bit on the algae wafers. If nothing else, because courgette is cheaper than algae wafers... And with the amounts these fish can take will quickly drop your bank-account anyways...

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Mats

wicked thanks for your advice, i think they are common (well that is wat we were told anyway) sorry for posting in wrong place They were not that small when we had them about 9" but they were only being feed one waffer a day!!!!! so they were thinner and their heads not as fat (not sure why tho) and they didnt move much, so i am hoping they wont be growing too much more, but if they do it just looks like we will be having 2 large tanks as there is no way i could part with such amazing creatures . Thanks again joey x

This is in answer to your reply to the sticky about posting pictures on the forums (which I have deleted).

Please see this.