55 Gal Stocking Questions | Pleco or no Pleco?

[Devinl3]

Hey Guys!

 

I have recently started setting up a 55 gallon planted freshwater tank. I have some stocking questions and more specifically stocking with a pleco involved.

 

With all of my hardscape, I have about 49 gallons of water.

 

I currently have the tank stocked with 7 Adolfo's Corydoras, 11 orange cherry shrimp, and 1 nerite snail. Very well planted tank but I wouldn't say its at the "heavily planted" state yet but will be there once the growth takes place. I'm running about 7.5x flow with my external canister filter as well.

 

I plan to add 10 celestial pearl danios, 2-5 amano shrimp, 3-4 otocinclus, and a smaller pleco (bristlenose or other).

 

I have heard of many different factors people consider when stocking a tank but I wanted to get some further guidance. Sounds like the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule is widely used but was concerned about this calculation when something like a pleco was taken into consideration as they have higher bioloads. If possible, I'd like to add another school of 6-10 nano fish. Not sure if this would be possible becuase of this rule?

 

Would I be okay to stock all of the indicated fish with a longfin bristlenose pleco or, ideally, an L201 Snowball Pleco? Would I have to be concerned about the pleco and otos competing for food? 

 

Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated?

[Lennie]

You can easily do a BN or L201 there. When they are small they tend to snack on surfaces more and yes both would enjoy grazing but usually I dont see such behavior from my adults much. 
 

You would need a diet heavy on different algaes and offer them nice hiding places that they would feel safe to spend time on and lots of surfaces that they would enjoy to graze around. Plecos love to hide in general

You didnt mention the temperature of your tank but you are gonna have to increase it ideally a bit to match the liking of L201 

I have never kept L201 but I have another hypancistrus. They love to hide, and need a a bit warm temps that your fish wouldnt be a huge fan of, about 26-30C. A BN female might be a better choice I think, they are more outgoing and in my experience can tolerate lower temps 

Dont focus on too much about the stocking rules. They dont really mean anything but maybe a guide to a newbie to give an idea. But isnt valid as a general rule anyway. trying to utilise different levels of your tank can be a good idea tho as your next stocking

 

Edited January 15 by Lennie

[Devinl3]

Thanks Lennie! That helps a lot.

 

I am currently maintaining an internal tank temp of about 74 degrees. 

 

I like that idea as I've read a lot of people just work on keeping enough swimming areas and maintaining good water parameters as you go. I've heard that you should add the first you like most and if you can keep your water parameters in good check you are good to add more stock. I'll stick to that and progressively add stock (with moderation of course).

 

For the L201, would 4 degrees off in temp (74) be too low for them to thrive? Do you have any other smaller pleco's you'd recommend? I don't have a high budget but can fork up $60 or so if its the right one.

Edited January 15 by Devinl3

[jwcarlson]

I likely comes down to your maintenance routine, but I don't think there would be an issue with a bristlenose pleco in there.  I don't know about a snowball.

Regarding adding more nano fish, I think I'd suggest you just get a bigger 'school' of CPDs.  But it's probably more of a personal preference thing.  10 CPDs in a 55 will basically disappear.  I've got 10 in a 10 gallon and just this morning I thought they'd all died because I couldn't see any 😄

[Lennie]

On 1/16/2024 at 12:08 AM, Devinl3 said:

Thanks Lennie! That helps a lot.

 

I am currently maintaining an internal tank temp of about 74 degrees. 

 

I like that idea as I've read a lot of people just work on keeping enough swimming areas and maintaining good water parameters as you go. I've heard that you should add the first you like most and if you can keep your water parameters in good check you are good to add more stock. I'll stick to that and progressively add stock (with moderation of course).

 

For the L201, would 4 degrees off in temp (74) be too low for them to thrive? Do you have any other smaller pleco's you'd recommend? I don't have a high budget but can fork up $60 or so if its the right one.

Yes! Adding stocking slowly is the best bet.

But I would highly recommend quarantining first. I'm not a quarantine directly with adding medicine type of guy, I instead do 30-day observational quarantine and even tho I have mostly completed these without any issues and medications, there have been a few occasions where I sadly witnessed diseases appearing in the QT. I think it is very important to not put your existing fish tank at risk.

 

When you make a research, you will likely come across hypancistrus being carnivores or stuff like BN plecos eating wood. Rebecca, who studies Loricariidae evolution as her PhD, has a great channel on plecos overall. Highly recommended to check it out! I learnt a lot about the scientific stuff regarding plecos diet and needs. Some videos where she explains Hypancistrus and overall loricariidae diet, and the misinformation about "eating wood"

 

Edited January 15 by Lennie

[Devinl3]

I’ll defiantly look into it. Looks like some great advice on this.

And yes I quarantine any added fish even if I think they might be fine. Definitely not worth the risk. I do the med trio from the start tho and keep them in a separate tank. 

thanks for your help!

Here is an image of the tank as well. Would I need to add some additional hiding areas with this current setup to keep a pleco happy?

[Devinl3]

On 1/15/2024 at 2:21 PM, jwcarlson said:

I likely comes down to your maintenance routine, but I don't think there would be an issue with a bristlenose pleco in there.  I don't know about a snowball.

Regarding adding more nano fish, I think I'd suggest you just get a bigger 'school' of CPDs.  But it's probably more of a personal preference thing.  10 CPDs in a 55 will basically disappear.  I've got 10 in a 10 gallon and just this morning I thought they'd all died because I couldn't see any 😄

Thanks for the input!

 

I’ve heard people say that about the CPD’s. How many would you recommend for a decent, and visible, group?

[jwcarlson]

I don't know, I only have about 10 adults.

30 or 40, maybe?

Here's 60 fry in about a quart of water...

 

[Devinl3]

On 1/15/2024 at 2:21 PM, jwcarlson said:

I likely comes down to your maintenance routine, but I don't think there would be an issue with a bristlenose pleco in there.  I don't know about a snowball.

Regarding adding more nano fish, I think I'd suggest you just get a bigger 'school' of CPDs.  But it's probably more of a personal preference thing.  10 CPDs in a 55 will basically disappear.  I've got 10 in a 10 gallon and just this morning I thought they'd all died because I couldn't see any 😄

Thanks for the input!

 

I’ve heard people say that about the CPD’s. How many would you recommend for a decent, and visible, group?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Devinl3 Just wanted to say your tank looks great!

I have a breeding pair of Bristlenose Pleco’s. I got lucky in that I bought 2 and ended up with a male and female. Originally they started in my 55 gallon Angelfish tank as juveniles. They started rasping all of my plants to death, so they got moved to a different tank. 
 

My Pleco’s also like to dig, so just keep that in mind. In addition to the caves I gave them they dig their own lol

[Devinl3]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:31 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

@Devinl3 Just wanted to say your tank looks great!

I have a breeding pair of Bristlenose Pleco’s. I got lucky in that I bought 2 and ended up with a male and female. Originally they started in my 55 gallon Angelfish tank as juveniles. They started rasping all of my plants to death, so they got moved to a different tank. 
 

My Pleco’s also like to dig, so just keep that in mind. In addition to the caves I gave them they dig their own lol

Thanks! @AllFishNoBrakes Been working on fine tuning everything and getting all the conditions where I’d like them.

Definitely don’t want my plants getting destroyed so I think I’ll stick with one pleco in the tank especially since I’ll have some otos working on the plants and algae too. Hopefully I get lucky with the plant situation!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

For sure. I didn’t expect it and thought my massive Amazon Swords wouldn’t be phased by them. Even with feeding them lots of veggies they were still rasping on the Sword leaves, cuz, well, that’s what they do. I’m glad I could just move them to a different tank and still get to enjoy them. 
 

Not trying to persuade you to not have a Pleco. Just trying to share the things I didn’t realize before I got mine 🙂 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/15/2024 at 12:41 PM, Devinl3 said:

I plan to add 10 celestial pearl danios, 2-5 amano shrimp, 3-4 otocinclus, and a smaller pleco (bristlenose or other).

 

I have heard of many different factors people consider when stocking a tank but I wanted to get some further guidance. Sounds like the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule is widely used but was concerned about this calculation when something like a pleco was taken into consideration as they have higher bioloads. If possible, I'd like to add another school of 6-10 nano fish. Not sure if this would be possible becuase of this rule?

 

Would I be okay to stock all of the indicated fish with a longfin bristlenose pleco or, ideally, an L201 Snowball Pleco? Would I have to be concerned about the pleco and otos competing for food? 

I've had a 55 and a 75 with anywhere from 4-8 otos and then a ton of corydoras, amano shrimp, as well as 3-4 different pleco species.  I wouldn't be concerned at all with adding 1-3 plecos.  In my tank I had a pitbull/rubberlip pleco, I had a bristlenose, and I had 2 types of clown plecos.  They inhabit different parts of the tanks.  Otos will go to different spots as well where the bigger plecos cannot get to. 

As far as the 1 inch per gallon rule, check out AQAdvisor as a place to start.  That rule really doesn't apply these days and you're better off just sort of finding a mentor or using more modern tools to estimate what is the correct level of stocking.  In a 55G, you can easily have 2-3 schools of nano fish without much fuss.  When I say schools, I'm talking like... 8-20 fish per school.  Hopefully that helps.

[Lonkley]

On 1/15/2024 at 1:21 PM, jwcarlson said:

Regarding adding more nano fish, I think I'd suggest you just get a bigger 'school' of CPDs.  But it's probably more of a personal preference thing.  10 CPDs in a 55 will basically disappear.  I've got 10 in a 10 gallon and just this morning I thought they'd all died because I couldn't see any 😄

The CPD should easily breed though right?  Wouldn't hurt to give them future space.

 

 

On 1/15/2024 at 12:41 PM, Devinl3 said:

I have heard of many different factors people consider when stocking a tank but I wanted to get some further guidance. Sounds like the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule is widely used but was concerned about this calculation when something like a pleco was taken into consideration as they have higher bioloads. If possible, I'd like to add another school of 6-10 nano fish. Not sure if this would be possible becuase of this rule?

It's a completely arbitrary rule told to new fish keepers. What you are really looking for is that the tank processes ammonia and nitrite quickly. When testing (you are testing right?) you shouldn't see any and you should see low levels of nitrates. With all the filtering you have and all the decorations and gravel, you have plenty of room for bacteria to grow. Not to mention the plants that will also directly consume some ammonia

[jwcarlson]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:06 AM, Lonkley said:

The CPD should easily breed though right?  Wouldn't hurt to give them future space.

I've not had much success with them passively breeding.  At best I've had one survive and it was an absolute jungle at the time (more dense then picture below, this is cleaned up).  10 CPDs pictured here.  When I bought the CPDs, there was a random forktail rainbow with them and he is HUGE compared to the CPDs, so it's possible he picks off any babies.  But CPDs fry are just a pair of eyeballs and it seems like they go so long before free swimming, it's not hard to imagine that something picks them off.

Maybe others have had better luck, but I haven't.  That could be a totally different situation if you've got 20 or 30 of them, I started with six.  Bought 8 from AquaHuna.  One had a bad swim bladder issue and one was a furcatta rainbow.  Of the six, one one was a female.  So it hasn't been a great sex ratio, but it's a bit better now as of the ~4 I've raised, I think at least two or maybe three have been female.  

At some point I'll have the 60 that I am raising in a larger tank and I'll be curious to see if their behavior is vastly different compared to a small group.

[Devinl3]

On 1/15/2024 at 11:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I've had a 55 and a 75 with anywhere from 4-8 otos and then a ton of corydoras, amano shrimp, as well as 3-4 different pleco species.  I wouldn't be concerned at all with adding 1-3 plecos.  In my tank I had a pitbull/rubberlip pleco, I had a bristlenose, and I had 2 types of clown plecos.  They inhabit different parts of the tanks.  Otos will go to different spots as well where the bigger plecos cannot get to. 

As far as the 1 inch per gallon rule, check out AQAdvisor as a place to start.  That rule really doesn't apply these days and you're better off just sort of finding a mentor or using more modern tools to estimate what is the correct level of stocking.  In a 55G, you can easily have 2-3 schools of nano fish without much fuss.  When I say schools, I'm talking like... 8-20 fish per school.  Hopefully that helps.

@Lonkley thanks for the input and guidance there. It’s comforting that this seems to be the common consensus amongst fish keepers here.

 

I usually test every Sunday with the API master test kit and all of my levels are great but I only have the Cory’s and shrimp occupying the tank currently. 
 

I have heard that it can be difficult for the CPD spawn to mature without extra care or breeding. Maybe I’ll get a bigger school of those guys and breed them at the same time 🤷‍♂️. Also want some rummynose cuz why not haha

[Devinl3]

On 1/15/2024 at 11:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I've had a 55 and a 75 with anywhere from 4-8 otos and then a ton of corydoras, amano shrimp, as well as 3-4 different pleco species.  I wouldn't be concerned at all with adding 1-3 plecos.  In my tank I had a pitbull/rubberlip pleco, I had a bristlenose, and I had 2 types of clown plecos.  They inhabit different parts of the tanks.  Otos will go to different spots as well where the bigger plecos cannot get to. 

As far as the 1 inch per gallon rule, check out AQAdvisor as a place to start.  That rule really doesn't apply these days and you're better off just sort of finding a mentor or using more modern tools to estimate what is the correct level of stocking.  In a 55G, you can easily have 2-3 schools of nano fish without much fuss.  When I say schools, I'm talking like... 8-20 fish per school.  Hopefully that helps.

Yeah that helps a ton! Makes me feel a lot better about keeping a pleco and not worrying about competition for food/algae with the otos or other algae eaters.

 

now that you’ve cleared my limited thoughts of stocking I have to figure the other nano fish to run with😂

let me know if you have any keen recommendations!

[Flipper]

On 1/15/2024 at 3:08 PM, Devinl3 said:

I am currently maintaining an internal tank temp of about 74 degrees. 

I read several articles this morning.  The Adolfo Corys and Celestial Pearl Danios both prefer temperatures at 20-26°C = 68-78.8°F.  I think 74° is a little chilly.  I'm copying @nabokovfan87 and @jwcarlson to chime in here.  I keep my tank at 77° for my dwarf Clown Pleco, Harlequin Rasboras and Rummy-Nose Tetras. 

[Devinl3]

On 1/16/2024 at 9:45 AM, Flipper said:

I read several articles this morning.  The Adolfo Corys and Celestial Pearl Danios both prefer temperatures at 20-26°C = 68-78.8°F.  I think 74° is a little chilly.  I'm copying @nabokovfan87 and @jwcarlson to chime in here.  I keep my tank at 77° for my dwarf Clown Pleco, Harlequin Rasboras and Rummy-Nose Tetras. 

That's good to know. I'll work on bumping that temp up closer to 78 to keep everything happy in there.

Do I need to worry much about the plants with higher temps? I know they are all over the board when it comes to ideal temps but wanted to get a general thought if there were any.

 

Also, how do you like your dwarf clown pleco? Any behaviors or habits that I should be aware of that you have ran into?

[Flipper]

On 1/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, Devinl3 said:

Do I need to worry much about the plants with higher temps? I know they are all over the board when it comes to ideal temps but wanted to get a general thought if there were any.

Plants should be quite happy with 78°.  They adjust well.

 

On 1/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, Devinl3 said:

Also, how do you like your dwarf clown pleco? Any behaviors or habits that I should be aware of that you have ran into?

Oh, I can't tell you how much I love my dwarf Clown Pleco, named Bashful.  I've had him almost 2 years, he's about 2 or 2 1/2 inches long.  He does hide a lot but I get to see him almost every day.

It's cool how he changes color to match his background.  He's a medium brown and gold, but he looks darker when he's on the driftwood and turns real light, almost yellowish gold when on my substrate.  I only feed him once a week because my tank has plenty of mulm and biofilm that he munches on daily.  I feed him 1/2 Sera Catfish Chips once a week, but it must be hidden really well or my fish will steal it and then they'd be overfed. 

So I use a tiny plant pot as a cave with enough rocks around it that the fish can't just swim inside. 

His behavior is passive and he and my fish just totally ignore each other.  Works out great.

[Devinl3]

On 1/16/2024 at 10:48 AM, Flipper said:

Plants should be quite happy with 78°.  They adjust well.

 

Oh, I can't tell you how much I love my dwarf Clown Pleco, named Bashful.  I've had him almost 2 years, he's about 2 or 2 1/2 inches long.  He does hide a lot but I get to see him almost every day.

It's cool how he changes color to match his background.  He's a medium brown and gold, but he looks darker when he's on the driftwood and turns real light, almost yellowish gold when on my substrate.  I only feed him once a week because my tank has plenty of mulm and biofilm that he munches on daily.  I feed him 1/2 Sera Catfish Chips once a week, but it must be hidden really well or my fish will steal it and then they'd be overfed. 

So I use a tiny plant pot as a cave with enough rocks around it that the fish can't just swim inside. 

His behavior is passive and he and my fish just totally ignore each other.  Works out great.

Bashful looks super cute! Thats cool that he changes color, I didn't know it would be that noticeable tbh.

And only once a week to feed him?? Doesn't seem bad at all actually. How big is the tank? Would you think I'd be able to do about the same given my 55 and the driftwood I currently have? I'm sure things might vary a bit as the L201 gets up to 6 inches or so and their diet may vary a bit from the clown.

[jwcarlson]

I keep my CPDs at 75-76 degrees, but I have heard of others keeping them at 80.  So maybe it's not super critical.

[Flipper]

On 1/16/2024 at 12:04 PM, Devinl3 said:

And only once a week to feed him?? Doesn't seem bad at all actually. How big is the tank?

My tank is a 20 gal high, so much smaller than yours.  I've never kept any other plecos, so I only know about my dwarf Clown.  I hope to get a larger tank some day and try out a Bristle Nose.  They look and sound so interesting.

I do have lots of driftwood in my tank and Bashful grazing on it.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/16/2024 at 9:26 AM, Devinl3 said:

On 1/16/2024 at 8:45 AM, Flipper said:

I read several articles this morning.  The Adolfo Corys and Celestial Pearl Danios both prefer temperatures at 20-26°C = 68-78.8°F.  I think 74° is a little chilly.  I'm copying @nabokovfan87 and @jwcarlson to chime in here.  I keep my tank at 77° for my dwarf Clown Pleco, Harlequin Rasboras and Rummy-Nose Tetras. 

That's good to know. I'll work on bumping that temp up closer to 78 to keep everything happy in there.

The way I've always set things if there is a range I use the middle value.  A lot of cypranidae species will want 74 degrees or so and can go slightly cooler. This would include corydoras, but specifically looking at danio, Rasbora, minnows, and barbs.

I keep my tanks in the 72-74 range. For corydoras, planet catfish has details on their care habitat as well.

On 1/16/2024 at 10:08 AM, jwcarlson said:

but I have heard of others keeping them at 80.  So maybe it's not super critical.

Basically it bumps up the metabolism, can increase stress, shorten lifespan, and introduce or allow diseases to take hold. The fishes immune system would be weakened if temp is too high (or too low). There is always a range that is accepted, but that's just the typical sentiment.

 

Tetras like is warmer, 78, the cypranidae like it cooler. But there's always some exceptions there. Just have to research each species.

[Devinl3]

On 1/16/2024 at 2:20 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

The way I've always set things if there is a range I use the middle value.  A lot of cypranidae species will want 74 degrees or so and can go slightly cooler. This would include corydoras, but specifically looking at danio, Rasbora, minnows, and barbs.

I keep my tanks in the 72-74 range. For corydoras, planet catfish has details on their care habitat as well.

Basically it bumps up the metabolism, can increase stress, shorten lifespan, and introduce or allow diseases to take hold. The fishes immune system would be weakened if temp is too high (or too low). There is always a range that is accepted, but that's just the typical sentiment.

Tetras like is warmer, 78, the cypranidae like it cooler. But there's always some exceptions there. Just have to research each species.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to dig a little further into what might be best for the stocking I plan to have. My goal was to try and keep it more towards the middle of the ideal range as well.

Are there are visible signs of the tank being too warm for the fish?