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Okay, we are doing a new cichlid tank and I would like to put a pl*co in there. The lfs guy was suggesting a gold nugget pl*eco for 20.00. Well, I find them to be rather attractive and the price s ok. I read that they get to be about 8" which is good. The problem is I heard several people say they are not hardy.


I periodically search the want ads, etc. and will end up with a huge tank one day, but even so, I would like a pl*co that gets no larger than say...1 ft in legnth. I would like one in that general price range, fairly hardy and will be ok with cichlids.

Any suggestions? I started looking thru the cat-eLog, but got overwhelmed! Plus, I have no idea if the ones I like are even affordable...

Well, a lot depends on the types of cichlids. Are we talking South Americans, Central Americans, or African? And what general sizes will they be, temperments and such, or just what species or groups they're in.

Well, we are just starting and my son went with a yellow lab as his first one. I want to then put a pleco in and make sure that he has established himself before introducing any more cichlids. Although I am not positive, I thought that might help him from gettting harassed by the cichlids.

Then after he is settled, I was thinking on going with some other Lake Malawi cichlids - making sure I check each out before purchasing to ensure that they are correctly labeled by the lfs, etc.

the yellow labs can be one of the more mild-mannered malawians, so I would say that you would be alright as long as your pleco can thrive in the elevated pH that the labs should have. just my .02.

Best,

Matt

Since you have the yellow lab, and are going with other rift lake species it seems, you are going to have a relatively high PH. All of my malawi tanks seem to do best in a 7.8-8.6 range, fish being better colored and more active. That's a pretty high ph for many plecos. Many common ancistrus that are tank-bred will be able to adapt to this ph range, and hard water, more so if acclimated over a slow period of time. You should not and probably won't be able to do any of the gold nugget L numbers in a high ph/hard water tank. I have tried as a test and it didn't go very well at all, even with a slow acclimation. I often use rubberlips and the common brown ancistrus, both which L numbers slip me atm, to cleanup african tanks, with great success. I have had decent success keeping an L-200 at an 8.8 ph, and healthy at growing at that... L-204 also does well at a high PH. Many plecos will survive at a high ph, but will not thrive, and often eventually die off after a while. I have tried many different combos, but that's what's worked best for me, hope that helps.

Thanks for the info! I will be looking those up and checking them out.