Pleco suggestion requested

Greetings,
I'm coming to all you pleco pros for suggestions. Due to a recent mishap between my wife and the aquarium during my last military paid "holiday" I have the ability to start from scratch with the aquarium. First the parameters
30G, pH: 6.5, dKH & ppm GH/KH: 2 & 17.9, temp ~80F/26C, fully planted with CO2, driftwood, powerhead and air diffuser for aeration.
Currently I have 5 cory and 5 bamboo shrimp, with plans to have a couple discus and a small school of some type tetra and additional smaller shrimp like cherry, etc.

Since I've always had a love of plecos I'd love to find a suitable one for my tank. I've had Gold Nuggets, Flash, and a whip-tail in the past. However, due to the large amount of waste, I'd like to stay away from the wood eaters. Since I plan on having smaller shrimp, I'd like one that isn't too much of a carnivore, and since I have over $200 worth of plants I'd like one that is plant friendly, and lastly, as it is only ~30gal I need one that doesn't get too terribly large. Is there a pleco out there that would fit my tank? I won't say that price is no factor, but I'm willing to pay for a beautiful fish that will fit my tank if it's not too extravagant. So I hope someone can help, thanks!

Dale Russell

Hi Dale, first off, Thank You for your service .

I can't give you a good answer as I don't keep plants, but I do know there are many L #'s that stay small in adulthood. I am sure other members who keep plants and know which are herbivores could make some good suggestions for you . Great that you are asking before taking the plunge. It will be a better fit for your tank and your plec will be happy ! good luck ,

just remembered there is a ''Dwarf plec beginner guide'' somewhere, can anyone recall where to find it ?

If someone can find it, Dale, then you could go to the ID site here and click on the ones that you like to see their needs ,and find the best fit for your needs.

sorry , i dont recall where exactly I saw it.

thanks for your service indeed. You make the world a better place.
With the 30G, you will also be stretching for space for Discus that you want to keep as well. Another tip is, be wary of the tetras and shrimp, tetras are great hunters. Maybe go for a pencil fish as a group instead. A nice Pleco to keep is L129, L174 , L236 and L134. Just my thoughts cheers jk :thumbup:

Thanks!

So you don't think the 30G will support a couple of discuss? Thanks for the suggestion on the pencil fish. I've had (and loved) cardinals in the past, but the wife was wanting something else anyway. I'll check out the plecos you mentioned.

Dale Russell

Just read up on the profiles of he 4 plecos mentioned. For each of them it states their diet leans more to the 'meatier' side. Should they still be safe for live shrimp as tank mates?

Hi what about l397 there wood eaters or lo80 they love veg:thumbup:

Good suggestion with L397 except that they aren't really available outside Australia.
Lots of good choices available, L104, L015, L002, ottos, pit bull, ancistrus among others.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

Just remember he wants to keep away from wood eaters as he has had them before. Cheers jk :thumbup::thumbup:

Only thing I could suggest are the Bristlenose Pleco's. They stay small and are veggie eaters. They don't destroy plants and are relatively peaceful even with there own kind except during breed males can get a bit rough with each other. There are many variations to choose from Reds, Calico's, Browns, Albino's, Blue Eyed, Greens and all come in both long and short finned forms. The reds are the most expensive in this group. You could also go for some White Seamed BN's which look pretty cool.

I think this would be your best route. People have had success with plants with Panaque maccus they stay really small. I know you don't really want wood eaters but they stay smaller then L204 Flash Pleco which gets about 6" P. maccus gets 4 so they produce less waste. Also LDA001 would be nice only getting 3" at full grown size. Just something to think about.

I also agree you'll be pushing on space with Discus in a 30 gallon tank. They do get kind big and do better in a tall tank since they themselves get tall in size. You would be better off with dwarf cichlids like apisto's or ram's.

Good thing your looking before diving in. Doing more research online will get you a good setup for your 30 gallon. =-)

Sorry didn't read the initial post well before posting again.
If waste is the issue with keeping wood eaters than you'll have the same problem with any plec that meet the criteria outlined. Veggie eaters will produce just as much waste, its a factor of what they eat. Veggies (and wood) have very little nutritional value so large amounts need to be eaten to provide the required calories. Meats and fats in comparison have high calorie density so carnivores need to eat less to get the same amount of calories and thus produce less waste.

Thanks guys, this is helping quite a bit. My tank is the Marineland Half-Moon 30 which is a very vertical tank, measuring around 27" tall. That's one of the reasons I was looking at 1 or 2 discuss. I had Bosemani rainbows and cardinals before which tended to stay towards the bottom to the middle of the tank so the top was always empty. Trying to find a more vertical fish for the 'feature' fish. I'll try to get a picture posted of my aquarium. Recommendations on that are just as welcome.

I do weekly water changes, around 20%, so while I'm not deployed the waste isn't as big an issue (also using a Fluval 205 filter). So perhaps I should not rule out the wood eaters completely, especially if they were smaller plecos. I suppose more important to me than the waste production and wood eating is the compatibility with my bottom feeders. If you guys think this is unreasonable for plecos let me know, thanks!

GEV83, could you point me to some L numbers for the BN's? I'm looking up every fish that has been suggested here in the pleco profile forum. Also, I haven't found it yet, but the difference between L and LDA?

Just planted my shipment of plants last weekend.

Discus generally do better in groups. The problem with keeping just 2 is that, as with most cichlids, you'll get some aggression/territorialism. Unless you're lucky enough to get a mated pair, and even then sometimes, one could want to dominate the other. With only 2 fish, the lesser one will always be the one being picked on and that can cause stress and suffering for the lesser fish. In a group this aggression is spread among all individuals in the group and all fish do better overall. I might also worry about keeping shrimp with discus, discus do feed on inverts in the wild.

EDIT: Sorry just read the previous posts again. Don't know where the 2 discus came from, guess I wouldn't recommend any more than that in a 30 and then from my original post, would probably not recommend that either.

Well you all have definitely made me reconsider all my plans! So now this is turning into a recommend "fish" topic instead of just Pleco. Looks like my best best is to forget the shrimp, and go for a more "omnivore" Pleco to limit veggie/wood waste. Sounds like my setup is too small for discus as well. So, given a 30gal well planted vertical tank, what fish would you add with the corys? This is a living room tank, so I'd like to have something nice as a 'feature.'

Thanks for helping me avoid the mistakes!

add some nice rummynose, Harlequins or Black neons in a group of 15 . That would look nice, plus a couple of plecs and corys. cheers jk :thumbup:

The BN's are common Bristlenose Pleco's which to my knowledge don't have a L number. A quick search on google and you'll see the common brown BN which is where all the others I mentioned originated from. The all selective bred pleco's for there colors and fin's.

Yea discus do best in groups or as a pair as mentioned above and even though Angel Fish fair off pretty good solo they tend to be more apt to eating smaller tetra's and shrimps. I would try going with something like a dwarf gourami which will occupy your upper level.

Also if you go with wood eater pleco's adding driftwood to reach you upper water column will encourage it to go up there as well. I do this in my 135 gallon and they will go to the very tip of the driftwood.

Tetra's would do good for you middle water column and cory's for the bottom. Just keep in mind if you go with a gourami you can't have anything with long flowing fins like fancy guppies or betta's.

Quickly back to the plecos; would Juli Corys be an issue for a zebra, or would you suggest I stick with a BN?

Julii corys wouldn't be an issue though the two aren't really great tankmates. The reason being that zebras prefer higher temp waters whereas most corys prefer it on the cooler side. Generally BNs are much better community fish than a zebra,

FYI most julii corys aren't. The true julii is pretty rare and expensive. Most of what you see sold as julii is trilineatus.

You are correct on the coryadoras! I looked them up. I have my tank right at 27C, so on the warm side for the corys.