My Chinese Algae Eaters are getting a bit rough.

Question

What I want to know in 125ltr tank should I replace with a peaceful clown plec or a rubber lip plec, In my aquarium I have white cloud minnows,clown loaches, coryadoras, black widow tetra, neons, swordtails, gouramis and mollies, some of these will be leaving to my other aquariums as I have three.Which are the smallest plecs an least aggressive in a community aquarium.

Answer 1

The smallest plecos are the bristle nose pleco and the rubber mouth pleco.  They top out at about 5-6 inches.  I believe the blue panaque also stays small, but they are much rarer and more expensive.  Bristle nose and rubber mouth plecos are generally much easier to find.  They are great little algae eaters and very peaceful.  I have them in all my tanks and they don't bother even the smallest of fry.  I have even bred red cherry shrimp in tanks with my plecos and their tiny fry were perfectly safe.  

Answer 2

they are known for being problematic as they get older ours has a real personality problem.we took him out of the ciclid tank because he kept annoying them and put him in the community tank somedays he is in a bad mood but he does seem better in there.he used to keep nudging our huge plec.

Answer 3

Have you thought about half a dozen otocinclus?

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?... Algae eaters don't come much smaller.

Answer 4

Your best bet is the one you have said, Which is the Clown Pleco. They max out at 4 inches and are the smallest Pleco. The Bristlenose and Rubberlip, are the next smallest. A lot of the 'L' plecs stay small so if you do research you could have something else. Your 125 could easily accomodate a variety of tropical plecs.

Its the Law of the CAE that they get aggressive as they get larger, so its a good idea to get rid.

I also have a 125 litre and actually have an L265. He will max out at about 8 inches and he's grown 2 inches in 10 months.

Just remeber that plecs will only really eat algae when their main diet is not supplemented or when they are small juveniles. Its a misconception to ill advised aquarists that they will do the job. So my advice would be not to buy the plec for algae purposes.

They are omnivores like the vast majority of other fish. I feed mine Tetra Variety Wafers every day. Every other day he gets a chunk of either cucmber, courgette (zuchinni), butternut squash or cabbage.  

AND once a week he gets a nice chunk of meat. I give him whole Cockle, but you can use muscle, small frozen fish or beef heart. This is really important as they need the protein to grow and for strength. Again its a misconception that they only eat vegitation. In fact some species eat more meat than vegitation (see the Vampire Plec or Galaxy Plec).

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: All plecs need a piece of bogwood in their tank, they rasp on the bark as a digestive aid, as roughage helps the transit of waste. It is observed in the wild, just like African Cichlids swallow sand and fine gravel for the same reason.

I use Mopani wood.

Sorry to chat for so long but I love my pleco and researched their requirements for days until I found a consistent pattern in the advice.