Plectostomus Catfish

I ordered a gold nugget plectostomus from somthingsphishy.com. The fish was delivered the following morning and was in excellent condition. It was exactly as advertised with regard to size and coloration. An absolutely beautiful fish who fit right into my Pleco Colony (I have 5 other assorted plecos in the tank). I love plecos and have made this particular family my family. I have a 55 gallon with 2 medium clown loaches and a 6 inch silver arowana. What fun. I recommend somethingsphishy.com with confidence and enthusiasm. These people know what they are doing and deliver a quality as advertised product over the Internet.

The common pleco is a great algae eater, possibly second only to the Siamese algae eater (flying fox), and some variations can have beautiful patterns.

LARGE! up to 30cm possibly bigger and clumsy they can knock over ornaments and potentially injure other fish

for smaller aquariums i would suggest bristle nose plecostomus, much smaller 10-15 cm and in my opinion no less interesting

Great, hardy fish to clean the algea. They can get huge and then do very little for your tank except add to the bioload. I recommend getting one of these especially for first time and beginners.

I swear mine ate one of my other fish. swallowed it whole. or the other fish teleported out of the tank overnight. . .Overall I like this pet if you only want one fish, these guys are pretty cool.

These are great....

Some grow to 2 feet if given A LOT of room. Especially ponds with a depth of 4.5 feet or more. But huge tanks like 300 G will give them ample room to roam and eat algae. Small tanks like 20-40 G are OK for the smaller ones. It may take up to 10+ years to reach full length, but more food will make the Plectostomus Catfish grow quicker. Bristlenose Pleco's top out at 6", and some other species top out smaller than that, but most species grow to a foot or longer.

Once you've brought one you will want another. They can mix well, and they will never bother any fish. BUT, if you catch him in your net some have little barbels, and their fins may get caught in the mesh, so try catching one in a cup if need be.

The Plectostomus Catfish is an algae eater that will definitely keep the sides of your aquarium free of algae. Even though its food grows on the sides of its tank, you may want to feed it algae pellets if it's an adult.

The minimum tank size one should have for a Plecostomus, that will presumably become full grown, is 50 gallons, for they can grow to a foot long (about 30cm) and they need their space.

It is also very territorial when with other Plecos, so only have one per tank, unless you want to be woke up in the middle of the night by fighting Plecos. It can keep itself (partly because of it's size), so you don't have to worry about putting it with aggressive fish. It can also be kept with extremely docile fish too.

All in all, a good fish for any heated fresh water aquarium.