PlanetCatfish.com

hi,

do you think the small amount of plastic plecos would ingest from rasping on the sides of the rubbermaid tank would hurt them at all?

http://www.brusselsagri.com/farm_suppli ... ermaid.htm

I have a stock tank but it's made of galvanized steal and i've had some fancy plecos in there for roughly 2 weeks without problems. Also got this plastic pond thing i got at house2homes before they closed i think you can find them at walmart. I have 2 common plecos living in there for a year and nothing has gone wrong. Personally i don't think they'll get sick because they'd really have to be able to tear into it. I've read something on the net where someone tried to breed some royals in a rubbermaid stock tank and plecos rasping on the container was not one of their problems.

I was interested to hear that you were using a tank made of galvanised steel. I never considered this option myself because I considered the Galvanizing to be an active material and possibly toxic. Galvanizing is primarily zinc and zinc oxide forms on its surface in the form of a white powder. Zinc is quite soft and i would imagine your plecos would be capable of scratching its surface easily, but Im guessing. I know that drinking water tanks used to be made of zinc or galvanised steel but are usually ruberised or butyl lined these days.
Keep us posted how it goes.
I thougt of using stainless steel as it is inert (mostly) and wont contaminate the water but a large tank of stainless is simply too extravagant!

jason

i too have heard that using galvanized stock tanks was a vary bad idea unless you line them with something because the zinc would kill the fish.

couldn't you just constuct a large wooden box and line it with a thin layer of stainless steel sheet welded at the edges instead of building a whole tank out of stainless.

i am thinking i should be ok with plecos in the rubbermaid tank as long as there not panaques or any others with large rasping teeth.

even if it was a panaque species... I kind of doubt it would do too much harm. the plastic is most likely indigestible, even to their stomachs, so it would be little plastic shavings coming out the other end is my guess... Anyone who has a dog has let them have plastic bones to chew on, which sheds little shavings harmlessly, the only question is if the plastic for the stock tank would remain non toxic in the extreme realm of a royal's gut. My best guess is it'd be fine, but I'm not a chemist.

as for galvanized... no idea...

I dont think there are any easy solutions only compromises. The problem with stainless is that it is v expensive even thin guage. Then you have to find someone to weld it! (not a problem for me). I dont think that plastic would cause too many problems with plecos though. depending on what plastic it was. there are many different types of plastic tank these days made mostly for the chemical storage industry and most of these are made from very inert materials. but beware that not all plastics are safe and i wouldnt like to try fibreglass as it can cause fish problems if it enters there body in a particle state. ( trust me, I saw a pond full of koi die in less than 12 hours from a light dusting of fibreglass on the surface!)
jason

Plecos, especially Panaques, often graze on sponge filters and acrylic tank walls. This clearly doesn't do them any short term harm, but I'm not sure that it would be safe to say that it has no long term adverse effects. Among other things, many ingested plastics mimic the effects of certain hormones, especially sexual hormones.

Dinyar

I have an L190 Panaque in a Juwel tank. He/she does knaw at the plastic housing around the filter, heater and powerhead and I have seen this in his faeces (poo).

Obviously gone staright through!

Not done him any harm so far.

The only thing is this is a hard brittle plastic and tanks are generally a softer material.

Try and keep an eye on progress!

Steve

How much do they cost??? This would be cool to have.

prices differ by area. 50-100 gal units are usually under 75 bucks check your local farm supply store or home improvement store and ask them if they carry them. Menards, fleet farm, and farm & fleet usually carry them.

many ingested plastics mimic the effects of certain hormones, especially sexual hormones.

Dinyar,

Can you please explain this statement more fully...

Adam

Recent research shows that plastics are not inert as was commonly assumed and that some of the chemicals leaching from plastics are hormonally active.

Dinyar

Styrene (a chemical used in a number of plastics) is a known hormone disrupter that mimcs the effects of estrogen.

I have heard this too when I informed myself about this topic.

how about a tank built of plywood and coated inside with epoxy resin or epoxy paint? this can be an inexpensive way to build a large tank.

there are also elastomeric paints that are safe for dinking water catchment. down here in the islands, we use it to paint our roofs because the rainwater that falls on it goes down to a holding cistern to supply the house.

plecos can chew through it.

hate to resurect threads but I have a question.

I recently got a sailfin pleco(2 inches) and am looking at a long term solution for housing him. While looking around I found holding tanks like these and considered them.

The question i have is even if I built a custom tank out of acrylic wouldn't I face the same problem with the pleco chewing on it? So in otherwords for large plecos are be stuck with large glass tanks as our only option?

I have the same problem I want to rehouse my large plecos next year but i fear they would chew through the rubber liner of my tropical pond. I think the only option is build something and render it with cement. or use a tiled enclosure. Glass is probably the best bet though