I hope the mods can make this a sticky...

Ok if u guys have any questions, u can put them here instead of the other threads...dun hijack.

Well I admit i dunno much but will try to help out in any area that i'm familiar with...and that excludes medication & sicknesses...

• Maintenance
• Species ID
• General care
• Where to get plecos...not many around
• Misc.

Oh yar...forgot to tell u guys not to include questions like :

Why is the pleco so expensive ?

(Its like comparing cars. Why is a BMW costing more than a Kancil when they are still cars ? To some, a car is a car regardless of what kind of car it is.)

Where to dump my plecos ? Anyone knows where is the best place ?

(U shouldn't dump them at all. U should think of that first before buying them. If u do not want them then give them to a lfs or worse comes to worst, put them to sleep. Never dump alien species into our local ecosystem as it will cause instability to it regardless even if the alien species looks harmless to you.)

So i have answered some of it above for the new comers or "just-in-case" viewers that are interested to know...

Great Idea,
Suggestion...
Maybe it's easier to lump the fishes that love similar conditions?
neutral to acid, low kh, gh [planted]

neutral to alkaline, high tds[total dissolved salts]

breeding conditions and behaviour[i know some like a harem...1 male more females]

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So many aquascapes, so little time...http://www.my-mac.net/forum/

Breeding plecos...?
Not every one has been successful with this species...except for a few genus like hypancistrus, ancistrus and some peckoltia. The rest are a real challenge.

Plecos are not harem breeders. In fact the females are free to go where they want once they finish their job. The guy however is not sooo lucky and have to take care of the kids and do house keeping...

Planted tank ? U need to read more on the particular pleco u intend to put into ur planted tank. Or u might wake up one day and find that planted tank had been nicely processed into poop.

Most pleco will take advantage of the nice & fresh salad bowl provided and leave the algae alone...heheh. They will however stay away from plants that are not that tasty or thick like nanas and moss but anything leafy like the amazon sword would look like KFC to them

hi ... thanks for promoting a pleco awareness thread ... great job

my questions are ... (apology if stupid/dumb questions)
i) i see many lfs put one or two of this fish into each tank ... why is that? what are the benefits?

ii) are they shrimp friendly?

thanks in advance...

Erm...interesting question.

1) Why a few pieces in the tank ?
To what i see is that LFS operators do not want to simply take too much a risk to themself especially in investing into a fish that most people have a problem to like. Not everyone will buy this fish so that means that the stock will sit in the shop for a long time and this in turn will be seen as consuming the owners resources in terms of fish food, and tank space. The price of one specimen is quite high too and buying more than 10 pcs is like getting some other stocks combined together. LFS owners are also quite worried that peradventure the fish dies (sickness, underfed, fighting or luck), then there will be a huge lost to him. So when u try to balance this costs together and make it work, its a very scary thing to think about. If it succeeds, it will pay off well but if the lfs guy do not know how to handle, then he has to fast for the month.
You can also consider this fact that the lfs guy is testing the market to see the reception of the customers towards this fish.

2) Shrimp friendly ?
Well i cant guarantee for all specimens of plecos. Generally those smaller ones will not prey on shrimps unless its already dead. If u have moss on your wood and place it from the mid level or higher in the tank, the plecos will not bother them. There are meat eaters and vegie eating plecos and also those that swallow everything like the common pleco
Pseudacanthicus and Leporacanthicus genus are generally carnivorous in nature so ur shrimps are n ot actually safe if they venture too near this plecos. Ancistrinae, Ancistrus and Hypancistrus are quite ok with shrimps...will leave them alone...unless they are already dead.
I had a Leporacanthicus Galaxias L240 in a shrimp tank...all my shrimp still around and got frys too. The L240 basically eats those that are dead or leftover food that droped to the floor.

So before u buy any pleco to put into your tank, do find out what they require for food and furnitures. Wood is a must for food supplement.

Dude,

I think what Bro Nano is asking is along the lines of why does most LFS put one single plecos with other fishes in their tanks rather than why they stock so little of them.

Well contrary to most people belief, they put them plecs there to eat all the dirt off i.e faeces and other leftover foods. Plecs don't eat faeces, and I don't know where anyone got that idea. They do eat leftover foods and some do help in clearing off algae.

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Be responsible for your actions.... what goes around comes around....

yes. this was actually what i meant. i think my question not framed out properly. sorry about that. but Plecowhacko made some interesting points too. like i saw the rm160 one in pet family last week, it was the only one in that tank with other type of fishes.

so, first thing that came to my mind was 'dbkl fish' ... but buy a RM160 fish to eat dirt meh? so, maybe like Plecowhacko said it is because of cost factor why it was kept like that.

btw, those dbkl fish = pleco ? do they actually eat 'dirt' ?

any type of wood? ply wood? drift wood? tree bark can ah?

got pic of L240 pleco? normally how much? how big can it grow up to?

thanks in advance.

Erm...wood as in driftwood...usually they prefer the soft ones. Hard ones are ok but will take a longer time to finish it hehe. Please do get those that are being sold in the LFS and not those that u pick up.

L240 is black with white spots...see my other thread. Theres a small pix of him there behind a corydoras.

And in case u guys need more materials to read...can go here and see see
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/numbers/1.php

They got C and L numbers where C = Corydoras and L = Loricaridae (Pleco)
There are many that looks similar. Some has smaller spots while others have bigger ones etc.

Oh I tot just now u meant those exotic pleco being mixed with other space. If it is the commons being mixed in then its because the lfs owner is lazy to clean the aquarium glass.

Pricing basically for L240 the last time i saw it was RM120. Quite ok. But do keep in mind that prices change according to availability. They dun get too big. About 30cm only. The big giants are like the Acanthicus Adonis which may reach almost 1 metre.