# pleco: safe or not



## djvieth (May 10, 2008)

im just curious, i want to add a pleco to my tank but im not sure if its a good idea or not to spend the money on the fish and then it gets eaten up by my reds. my setup is a 90g with 5 reds that are all about 5in rite now. so let me know your opions if you think its a good idea or not.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

not


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

First, if you're adding the Pleco because you want a "cleanup crew", don't. They sh*t like a horse and tend to make more of a mess then they clean up.
This topic comes up at least once a week. People have had varying levels of success with Plecos. Some are just immediately eaten, some last anywhere from a few days to a few months and then get eaten, and some people have had them in their Piranha tanks with no problems.
I have an 8"er in my tank with 6 6"-7" Reds and (knock on wood) they get along fine.
I think the key is size difference and which fish are established first. In my case I had the Pleco in the tank for roughly 3 months before I introduced the RBP's, and since the Reds were the size of dimes and the Pleco was 8", they wanted nothing to do with him. Now that they're big enough to eat him, they still pretty much ignore him.
In your case, all you can do is try. Get something in the 8"-10" range (bigger the better) and make sure you have a hiding place big enough for him to get completely inside of (stack up some rocks to make a cave). Good luck.


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## dschoter05 (Oct 14, 2008)

i have a 55gallon tank with 5 RBP and have 2 plecos they get along fine


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## cobrafox46 (Jun 2, 2008)

Are the Plecos a lot bigger than the Ps? If not they will eventually be an appetizer.


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## shoal king (Oct 27, 2006)

they could last 5 minutes or 5 months. they will eventually be eat'n. 
it's a gamble either way


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

i usually have good success with raphael catfish, better than that of plecos. currently have 2 raphael cats with my 9 macs for over 7 months now. they are secretive and hide most of the day, only coming out at night, and staying out of the p's way. plus i think their hard exoskeleton helps. however my macs are in the 6" range. with potentially huge pygos keeping anything could be more of a problem. i added a pleco about a week ago, but like said it is a gamble.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

your tank cant handle the bioload of a pleco do a little research on bio load and you will understand. aside from that the pleco will become food today, tomorrow, or a year from now. they also make more mess then they are worth.


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## LongIslandReds (Oct 8, 2008)

plecos are fine as long as the P's are well fed but def provide a big piece of driftwood for the pleco to hide if it needs to


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## Doktordet (Sep 22, 2006)

not.


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## MiGsTeR (Jan 19, 2008)

I got 2 plecos in my 55g tank with my P's.. They were smaller than then P's the first time I put em together but mine plecos are aggressive tho.. They still kickin and getting bigger and bigger as we speak..


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

yea, also bioload, in the long run could be a huge issue. you only have a 90g and in that size tank in a year or two you could have rbps that are easily in the 8-9"+ range. the pleco could possibly grow even quicker, so that is a lot of waste.


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## sadboy (Jan 6, 2005)

Look let me give it to you like this, the pleco may be okay for a while if it is bigger then the P's but trust me, the pleco will be dead sooner or later.

The P's will kill it one day.

everyone who says, oh I have p's mixed with Plecos and they get along fine, dont know what they are talking about.

Sooner or later the P's will take it out, it's that simple.

So No

Oh and BTW for people who are saying that the tank size matters.
I use to have a 180g with a 12 pleco mixed in with 8 P's range from 7" to 10", the p's took out the pleco even though they had a huge tank.


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

i have had luck with 2 rapheal cats with my 10"+ reds,but my rhom has eaten 2 pleco's and attacked ,and i saved the rapheal cat,and he also ate a giant snail as well as 8 dither fish.this happens within 24 hours of being added.


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