Lemme see your Pleco Tank set ups(Please and Ty!)

[Shadow]

So I am doing a plecocentric tank in the hopes of eventually breeding 5 juvenile L134s I just got from a breeder. I want the tank to be super comfy for them, but also visually nice as they are beautiful fish. So far I made 4 planks from aquarium safe slate(what 3 well known breeders use in their tanks), a real nice piece of driftwood, several pleco caves, natural sand, large java ferns, BUT I need some inspiration...SOOOO lemme see what you all have going? Curious any tips and tricks to breeding...hoping I get some other good ones besides what I have learned so far from the ted talk on the Co Op YT and my friends that breed. 🙂

Edited May 1, 2023 by Shadow

[Bev C]

I am looking forward seeing this thread I am no scrapper.. I have pelco cave a terracotta pots for bristolnose and mystery snails &  shrimp

[Shadow]

On 5/2/2023 at 5:35 AM, Bev C said:

I am looking forward seeing this thread I am no scrapper.. I have pelco cave a terracotta pots for bristolnose and mystery snails &  shrimp

Here is mine so far....still awaiting Java Ferns and Red Rooted Floaters to accompany a few Cardinal Tetras and the 5x L134 colony arriving today. 🙂 I dig the look so far. 

[nabokovfan87]

I like the rectangle shaped caves. I use 2 sizes (medium and then large) and I spread them along the tank. I would leave a few inches of room around each one. They are easy to stack as well, which is nice.

My setup wasn't for breeding, but a general home for 3-4 species.

The things I learned were about placement from that setup. Having them too close to the glass meant that they didn't like using the caves. They would hang out on them or on the side as opposed to in them. This would be a way to give fry a place to hide from the adults. I had them in bigger tanks, I had 4-5 plecos and then I had the caves spread around the tank. One on each side facing the glass of the tank to give the fish some protection and feel comfortable using the caves. In the middle of the tank I had two caves side by side with a piece of wood over them. That worked well. Some plecos wanted to use the bottom of the wood and then the others would use the caves. Certain species, clowns, really liked having the caves, but they could easily be bullied out by BNP/RLP that were a bit more feisty to get the cave.  Adding enough or trying to "teach the fish" so to speak that another cave was open became the challenge then.

On 5/2/2023 at 7:22 AM, Shadow said:

Very cool setup. That tank screams for a black background!

I like the little plates you have to support the caves when stacking. Very useful and looks great.

[Shadow]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:30 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I like the rectangle shaped caves. I use 2 sizes (medium and then large) and I spread them along the tank. I would leave a few inches of room around each one. They are easy to stack as well, which is nice.

My setup wasn't for breeding, but a general home for 3-4 species.

The things I learned were about placement from that setup. Having them too close to the glass meant that they didn't like using the caves. They would hang out on them or on the side as opposed to in them. This would be a way to give fry a place to hide from the adults. I had them in bigger tanks, I had 4-5 plecos and then I had the caves spread around the tank. One on each side facing the glass of the tank to give the fish some protection and feel comfortable using the caves. In the middle of the tank I had two caves side by side with a piece of wood over them. That worked well. Some plecos wanted to use the bottom of the wood and then the others would use the caves. Certain species, clowns, really liked having the caves, but they could easily be bullied out by BNP/RLP that were a bit more feisty to get the cave.  Adding enough or trying to "teach the fish" so to speak that another cave was open became the challenge then.

Very cool setup. That tank screams for a black background!

I like the little plates you have to support the caves when stacking. Very useful and looks great.

I have had the worst luck with static cling backgrounds...they are my kryptonite, I dunno why. I cut them exact and then they somehow never stick or just are funky looking. 😆

Also, as usual, thanks for your tips! Appreciate all the help as always, my friend. 🙂

 

[Shadow]

@nabokovfan87 maybe you can help here, if not anyone that has experience in keeping plecos, would appreciate feedback...but, I got my small starter colony of juvenile L134s the other day. They are all doing well it seems, huddling in different spots alone or together, but I haven't noticed them eating throughout the daytime. I left a couple Xstream Aquatics & Hikaru Wafer on the front area I left for grazing. Nothing seems disturbed overnight, maybe one but thats it. Plenty of wood and places for them to be comfortable, parameters are perfect and haven't needed to change water yet. How often do they eat or how soon after a long journey in shipping would it take for them to do so? Coloring is perfect...fins look great, they are all actively moving to different spots after a while, but chilling like plecos do. None are using the caves yet that I am aware of. Lastly, should I program my light cycle shorter in this tank and make the light dimmer or lower light? Thanks! 

Sorry for partial initial post lol...somehow I clicked hotkey for posting 🙃

Edited May 4, 2023 by Shadow

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:56 AM, Shadow said:

if not anyone that has experience in keeping plecos, would appreciate feedback.

@Guppysnail

[Shadow]

Here are some pics I included on my blog post of what the tank looks like currently...

[Guppysnail]

@Shadow I think your setup for multiple plecos is fabulous. I am looking forward to seeing all the future baby posts. 
Here is my set up. I have a very prolific breeding pair of longfin lemon blue eyed bristlenose pleco. My tank is a community catfish tank so very different goals than yours. If I set up a multi breeding tank I believe I would do very similar to what you have setup. Your care and detail looks greats. 
The only thing I can offer is floating bushy fast growing plants like hornwort, guppy grass, water sprite and the like and lots of them. 
My plecos do not hide because the floating bush makes them feel hidden and safe. When I do mass trimming and thinning like I did 2 weeks ago they tend to hide a lot more. They are also nitrate machines. The fast growers help immensely.  Emergent plants like pothos and lucky bamboo help a lot as well. 
 

Here is mine. 

[Lennie]

On 5/4/2023 at 5:36 PM, Shadow said:

Here are some pics I included on my blog post of what the tank looks like currently...

Get some whiptails too! 

[Shadow]

On 5/4/2023 at 10:29 AM, Guppysnail said:

@Shadow I think your setup for multiple plecos is fabulous. I am looking forward to seeing all the future baby posts. 
Here is my set up. I have a very prolific breeding pair of longfin lemon blue eyed bristlenose pleco. My tank is a community catfish tank so very different goals than yours. If I set up a multi breeding tank I believe I would do very similar to what you have setup. Your care and detail looks greats. 
The only thing I can offer is floating bushy fast growing plants like hornwort, guppy grass, water sprite and the like and lots of them. 
My plecos do not hide because the floating bush makes them feel hidden and safe. When I do mass trimming and thinning like I did 2 weeks ago they tend to hide a lot more. They are also nitrate machines. The fast growers help immensely.  Emergent plants like pothos and lucky bamboo help a lot as well. 
 

Here is mine. 

Oh WOW! I love it! I was thinking of doing a community kitty tank, but not sure what will work well with these lil ones...other bristlenose and Corys or something else? I have a few Siamese Algae Eaters that are in my plant main tank, not sure if they get on with Corys especially as its a territory thing, but not sure about with plecos either. I just want to see how they do breeding, but def not opposed to having a fun catfish only tank here. Also, I have not used hornwort or guppy grass much as coverage as everyone I ever got it from it comes in a stinky brown pile of mush, so I get worried even after rinsing to put it in my tanks. No one really locally bar Petco that might have it and I def do not trust their tanks. I have two monstera deliciosa on the back right now, but I have some lucky & swiss bamboo that I can move from my plant only tank to here as well. Wasn't sure how much gravel to add to the bottom, I usually am a heavier scatter graveler(if that is even a word lol), but this time I went with mostly sand as other breeders said plecos prefer it as its natural to their habitat. I also have on powerhead moving water swiftly in the back but am add a water bar instead with the sponge as I heard they like moving water at the surface...not sure if that means anything lol. Anyways, thanks for the tips all! I am excited about these lil plecos...they are sooooo cool looking!

On 5/4/2023 at 11:54 AM, Lennie said:

Get some whiptails too! 

Yea I am thinking of making it a communal kitty tank, but not sure what to add with them. Whiptails are beautiful tho! 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Shadow

[Lennie]

On 5/4/2023 at 8:14 PM, Shadow said:

Yea I am thinking of making it a communal kitty tank, but not sure what to add with them. Whiptails are beautiful tho! 

I have 4 red lizards. Highly recommended. 

But all whiptails are pretty awesome ngl

[Guppysnail]

@Shadow Reverse Respiration makes plants safe. Kills disease and pests. Soak in seltzer in the dark. No residue or plant damage. However guppy grass is delicate so maybe 5 hours since often it not in top shape to begin with at big box stores. 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/4/2023 at 6:56 AM, Shadow said:

I got my small starter colony of juvenile L134s the other day.

My clown pleco could not be bothered to come out during the day, extremely reclusive and basically feeds only off of the hardscape and aufwuchs all over the tank. I have seen one of my clowns eat once in years.

My suggestion would be to try the hikari mini wafers (just get a trial size pack to see what they do with it) and to try repashy soilent/super green. There are others you can try as well in the repashy line,  but I would start there. My second choice for plecos would be the spawn and grow or community blend.  Some fish, especially plecos, can be very stubborn when it comes to the wafers. There are ones that they do not like and have a difficult time eating off. Because of that I find that bigger flat sheets of repashy are much easier for them to graze on and to get food from. I pour mine into a plastic bag and flatten it up to about 1/8" thick or slightly higher. This allows the pieces to be longer and have more surface area. You can also play with making it a bit looser and easier for them to graze on if you notice any issues.

Barring that, garlic guard can be another option to try. If they don't eat in a few days I would start feeding only at night and check on the tank (under blue light) after about 30 minutes.

On 5/4/2023 at 10:14 AM, Shadow said:

Oh WOW! I love it! I was thinking of doing a community kitty tank, but not sure what will work well with these lil ones...other bristlenose and Corys or something else?

White clouds or something like that. Small barbs / rasbora (cooler) or tetras (warmer) would do well.

Edited May 4, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Jackson]

On 5/4/2023 at 10:36 AM, Shadow said:

Here are some pics I included on my blog post of what the tank looks like currently...

Does your leopard frog come out into the light much ?  Mine hides under the filter most all the time . Once in a while he comes out for a pellet , but thats it .

[Lennie]

If you want some good info on plecos, I highly recommend these channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@FreshwaterIchthyology

https://www.youtube.com/@AquaMalik/

[Shadow]

On 5/4/2023 at 1:36 PM, GCH said:

Does your leopard frog come out into the light much ?  Mine hides under the filter most all the time . Once in a while he comes out for a pellet , but thats it .

I just for colony of 5, so I never see em other than hiding hence my comment above. But so far they seem super hiders lol. 

[Jackson]

On 5/4/2023 at 3:57 PM, Shadow said:

I just for colony of 5, so I never see em other than hiding hence my comment above. But so far they seem super hiders lol. 

Sorry didn't read everything ,was looking at pics .. lol .. The frog pleco seems to be a bummer . Looks cool with the frog face , but thats it . Like  I said it comes out once in a great while to eat on a wafer that I put in a little dish for it and snails and such . Hides 99.9% of the time . Would like a cool pleco that shows up . But my tank is full and no more fish until I get a bigger tank . Also mine is very skittish , and will run if I walk up to the tank to quickly . So I have to sneak up on it . lol

Edited May 4, 2023 by GCH

[Shadow]

On 5/4/2023 at 2:09 PM, Lennie said:

If you want some good info on plecos, I highly recommend these channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@FreshwaterIchthyology

https://www.youtube.com/@AquaMalik/

Thanks, will give these a look! Appreciate it! 🙂

 

On 5/4/2023 at 12:29 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Shadow Reverse Respiration makes plants safe. Kills disease and pests. Soak in seltzer in the dark. No residue or plant damage. However guppy grass is delicate so maybe 5 hours since often it not in top shape to begin with at big box stores. 

 

Hey thanks for the read!! Definitely will try this out with the next bunch I get. Going to get some Hornwort for the top of the tank and run my light settings maybe a bit shorter than the other tanks so they get more low light time. I am thinking hard on making an all cat tank now lol. 

[Shadow]

On 5/4/2023 at 12:29 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Shadow Reverse Respiration makes plants safe. Kills disease and pests. Soak in seltzer in the dark. No residue or plant damage. However guppy grass is delicate so maybe 5 hours since often it not in top shape to begin with at big box stores. 

 

Just set this up...glad I found seltzer water in this country town supermarket LOL

[Shadow]

BTW, here's some pics of the Kitty City residents...

 

L134s chillin as usual and the goof crew doing laps up n down the corner of the tank per usual... 😂

[Shadow]

Current look of the tank post RR & addition of Hornwort. Really digging the dimmer areas for refuge. Also, @nabokovfan87 @Guppysnail, are these Cory eggs? They were running up n down this corner for a bit not too long ago. I have been feeding them some banana worms and blackworm pellets. They seem super happy in their new home regardless. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/4/2023 at 12:57 PM, Shadow said:

But so far they seem super hiders lol. 

nahhhhhh nighttime they are feisty and active.  They just don't like the light.

On 5/11/2023 at 11:47 AM, Shadow said:

Cory eggs?

yes.  Most of them look viable.

[Shadow]

On 5/11/2023 at 1:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

nahhhhhh nighttime they are feisty and active.  They just don't like the light.

yes.  Most of them look viable.

Hmmm...wonder how I could save them? I don't have anything really prepped, a side tank or anything. I do have a Ziss box, but it won't fit in this 20 long. 

[Lennie]

On 5/10/2023 at 11:15 PM, Shadow said:

 

If this is java fern don't plant it to the substrate otherwise it will die. Attach it to rocks or wood like anubias and bucephalandra