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I've been wanting to get a larger pleco ever since I returned to the aquarium world 3 years ago. I sold a tank full of baby angelfish to my lfs yesterday, drained their tank and moved it to our new house. Seeing it filled with water but empty of fish had me chomping at the bit to get a fish to call it "home". (I did keep all of my old filter media--biowheel, sponge filter, and overhead filter cartridge so things are well-cycled.) I went back to my lfs. cashed in a hefty portion of the store credit I got for the babies and I now have a beautiful 6" royal hanging onto the intake of my filter, with 6 neons to keep him company. It's a 37-gallon tank, btw.

I tossed in a piece of driftwood today, however it floats. (I've weighted and sunk this particular piece for over a month and it STILL floats, that's why it wasn't being used in my other tanks.) I know where I can get some that will sink but it may take a few days. Does this pose a problem? Since this is his first night here, I have kept the lights off in his tank and in the room and did not offer food yet. Still ok? FWIW, the tank is in the corner of our breakfast nook/kitchen. It's set up in the far corner where there is no foot traffic going by it, but the kitchen table is 3 feet away. Will the activity of our mealtimes be unsettling to him?

At this point, it is a bare-bottomed tank--more or less a quarantine tank. I don't have a cave for him yet--suggestions on what kind/size that he would prefer? I'm afraid that he doesn't have too many hiding places besides the intake tube and the sponge filter, so I need to remedy that quickly. Speaking of, will he destroy my sponge filter? (It's a 4x4 inch, fine pore sponge mounted on a piece of slate).

If I offer a diet of wood, zucchini, sinking algae chips, and sinking catfish pellets am I meeting his needs or is there something else that he would like/need?

How long for him to reach adult size and will he need a bigger tank even if I don't add anymore fish to the current tank?

I've read the articles here but would really appreciate hearing what others have experienced or found to work/not work. Thanks so much! I thought I had researched the royal before I got him, but now I'm finding a lot of details that I'm not sure of.

Christy

Congrat catdoc! I can answer some of your questions.

1. Driftwood - If it floats, simple solution, attach a piece of slate to the bottom. You can get slate in just about any LFS, if not in a hardware store. Drill a hole in it, and run a stainless steal screw through it into the wood. That way if you have substrate, you can cover the slate with the substrate and will look just like the wood is sittin on the bottom. This is what I have done with my "hand picked" driftood from local beaches.

2. I'm not a fan of bare bottom, it's just not natural. At the very least, stick some black cardboard underneath the tank to keep the light out of the bottom, this will REALLY freak them out.

The diet sounds good to me, that's what mine has been happily munching away on. Your tank should be big enough for now, but eventually you will want a bigger tank. Bigger is better! I'm not sure how quickly they grow, I've only had mine a few months, but it has grown about 1/2" in about 3 months. It's younger and smaller than yours though, so I would guess it would grow a little more quickly when younger.

I'm sure others with more experience with roylas can shed some more light, but hopefully this helps a bit

plecos will usually still suck on to a floating piece of driftwood. My L204 loved the piece floating in their tank and my commons kept several floating pieces free of algae in my 120 gallon. my lfs has had a piece floating in their pleco tank for about 2 years and there is always several plecs on it.

a flower pot cut in half or upside down with a hole in its side can make a good cave

How big will this Royal grow to.
I have one that is about 2.5" (bought at 2" about 3 months ago)?
What size tank will i eventually need, currently in 26 US gallon (100 ltr)?
Want a 300 ltr (79 US gallon) next. Will this be big enough when fully grown?

Steve

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! I don't care much for the bare-bottom tanks either, but they ARE much easier to keep clean. The tank is sitting on a black, solid-topped aquarium stand so it's as if it were painted black on the outer surface. There would be less reflection if I painted the inner bottom but just never got around to it. (Recommendations on what paint would be ok?)

He was obviously eating very well at the LFS, based on the pile of wood shavings he deposited overnight! Hope that's a sign that he'll settle in quickly here. Gonna make a trip to the grocery and pet store to get the rest of his stuff today.

I'm still curious about how long it'll take him to reach full size. The son of the LFS owner was in the store yesterday and he was telling me about his royal. He said it took 3 years for him to reach his current size, but admitted that b/c he was away at school the tank wasn't getting the attention that it should have (water changes). Is three years about right or what should I expect? Just wondering how soon I need to start looking for a larger tank in the classifieds.

Christy

Your royals will need a large tank of > 250 liters (75 gals) within 5 years -- depending on how big they were when you bought them and how well you feed them. They will also need big, robust filters. Sponge filters are good supplementary filters to use in royal tanks (since they don't clog easily with gentle flow), but yes, they may be chewed on.

Dinyar

Filter recommendations? The tank is an Eclipse 29, I just checked (thought it was bigger) with the built-in Eclipse filter and biowheel. It does run a pretty good rate (350 GPH, I think). How will that work? I know they are a river fish that do best with a current, just not sure how much flow is needed. I want to provide the best for my fish, just need a little more info to do that. As I've done more research today, I'm finding that the LFS owner was a bit lacking in some of her info but I'll remedy that as I learn. I also measure the fish and he's more like 4 inches, rather than 6.

Royals get very big!! They seem to grow slower once past the 6" stage, but my favorite old one is about 10 inches long and still growing! I like the sponge filters too, as a supplement - along with an undergravel and a canister filter for the tank and one power head pointed in the same direction as water flows. They are messy fish and produce a LOT of waste! My royals are all very shy and I think that too much activity at dinner time will stress them at first, but if there is a nice cave to feel secure in, they should do fine! Congrats on the new family memeber!!

I did a lot of experimentation on this subject, as I had a royal for about six years.

To sum it up simply, you need a filter that you can rinse out quickly and conveniently, because you might have to rinse it every 2-3 days. IMO, canister filters are not good for this reason, because even the ones that are conveniently opened are still a pain in the butt. Wet-dry systems are probably the best solution.

Dinyar