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| Hypostomus plecostomus (Common Pleco) |
| Family: |
Loricariidae |
| Maximum Size: |
14" (35.0cm) |
| Distribution: |
The waters of the Magdalena and Maracaibo basins of South America |
| Temperature Range: |
72-82oF (22-28oC) |
| pH Range: |
6 to 8 |
| Water Hardness: |
1.0-25.0 dH |
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| Hypostomus plecostomus is the latin name of the ever-present "pleco", that almost obligatory algae eating "tank cleaner." I say "tank cleaner" loosely since these potentially large fish produce amazing amounts of waste. During the day, they eat very little, spending most of there time wedged under a rock or piece of driftwood. However, as soon as the lights go off the plecos come out in search of algae and other uneaten food on the tank floor. They literally eat all night and they produce the waste to prove it! I will eat algae growing on rocks and other decorations, but does not usually do a great job on the glass. They will not find enough nutrution from algae in a well-maintained tank, and so should be given sinkiing algae wafers or other algae/vegetable-based food. Even though this species gets extremely large, they are safe with even the smallest fish. I have had personal experience with one individual, however, that would occasionally go berserk, swimming rapidly from one end of the tank to the other. Any fish he hit would die and he eventually killed everything in the tank. This is definitely not normal for this species, though. It is extremely challenging to breed plecos in the home aquarium and I have not had any personal experience doing so. To my knowledge their is no reliable way to sex these fish based on external features. Hypostomus species in general are very hardy and make for an appropriate starter fish (provided the aquarium is 55 gallons or more). |
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