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I'm wondering if I should add a pleco to my community aquarium, which includes peppered and bronze corys. Will they compete too much for hiding places? What type of pleco would be best if any?

I have corys and plecos in almost every of my tanks. Should be no problem [as a general rule - obviously, because we are talking about groups that have several hundred fish in each, I'm sure it's possible to find some combination that doesn't work well].

As to what pleco, it's really hard to say without more information as to for example what one would you like, and what the size & water conditoons (e.g. pH and temperature) of your tank is. The list of "favourites" combined with list of "what's available where you live" should give you a smaller list of candidates. Then we can perhaps make suggestions.

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Mats

I have a 50-gallon aquarium with eight corys and also some small other fish (zebra danios, bloodfin tetras, black skirt tetras). The pH is between 6.8 and 7.0; kh between 80 and 120 (judging from the color on a water test strip). Also I have java ferns. I previously had what I think was a common pleco, which lived for almost 10 years and then died. Then I got a rubber nose pleco, which lived only a month. That was before I had any corys. I have not seen a great variety of plecos in the stores here, but I could ask if there's a store with more variety. I was going to get another pleco but wanted to check here first to make sure that wouldn't be a mistake.

Rubber nose plecos require a bit more than most people give them - mainly in that they need meaty food and fast-flowing water.

Common plecos grow very large, so unless you have plans to get a 500 gallon or so tank, it's probably best to stay away from them.

There are literally hundreds of others that are more suitable.

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Mats

Get an Ancistrus.

Hi,

in general it is possible to keep corys with plecos, but you should have a closer look on the temperature requirements.
Bronze and peppered cory should not be kept too warm, for some plecos like hypancistrus spp. this would be at/below the lower end.

Sometimes it happens that corys hide in caves that male plecos use for breeding. In rare cases corys can be hurt when the plecos try to displace the cories out of the cave.

Cheers,
Karsten