Does anyone else own a Chocolate Chip Spiny Pleco (an algae eater)?

Question

I've had this algae eater fish (it's scientific or "proper" name is a Chocolate Chip Spiny Pleco) for many years now. It's been a foot long for the last few years and there have been long periods when I haven't even fed it. (The algae in my aquariums is long gone, hence I give it algae wafers).
I saw on some WWW site that the minimum aquarium tank for this fish is 70 gallons!!!! Mine's been living in a 10 gallon tank for some time now, but I do have a 40 gallon tank that I'm going to get new accessories for to put it in.
I'm just looking for advice from other people who own them. What size tank do you use? Do you keep more than one in a tank, etc.?

Answer 1

The 40 gallon tank would be fine for your chocolate chip pleco. You could even add some small schooling danios or tetras to give the tank some movement.

More than one male pleco will fight with each other in a small tank, in a large 75-100 gallon tank, you could have more. Even in a 40, you could have more than one male of smaller species. They will have skirmishes, but no real damage is done unless there is only one hiding place. You need to have a few places for them to hide out during the day. They are nocturnal foragers but will learn to come out when you feed them, especially for zuchinni.

I have had large plecos in 55 gallon tanks off and on for years and then I found out about the smaller varieties (ancistrus plecos) for smaller tanks. Their common name is bushynose plecos. They only get to be about 6" when adults and are easy to spawn if you get a male and female. Males have the bristles on their noses, females do not. I spawn mine in 10 gallon tanks. The male is a very good father, he takes care of the eggs until they hatch and the fry until they are free swimming.

Most all plecos love zuchinni. Here is how to prepare it. Thin slice a whole small zuchinni. Boil some water and drop the slices into the boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. Then drain them and place them flat on a cookie sheet that will fit in the freezer. Freeze them and put them into a zip-lock baggie and store in the freezer. Then when you want to give your pleco a treat, just drop one of the frozen slices in the tank. When it thaws in about a minute or two, it will sink down to the bottom and he will find it easily.

Good luck! Email me if you have more questions.

Answer 2

Spiny Pleco

Answer 3

I used to have the exact same story.

Only right after I found out that he should be in a much, much larger tank, he died.

But what does one do with a large algae eater? I considered going down to Petco and asking if they would help me downgrade to a smaller size. But he didn't hang around long enough.

I suppose the thing to do would be go for the 40 gallon, or maybe see if someone with a really large tank needs a pleco.

Answer 4

Mine is like a foot long also. I have it in a 30gallon tank for now, but I am thinking i need to get a larger tank for him. It is a little hard for him to have adequate room to swim around if there is more than a couple of decorations in the tank. He keeps the tank super clean and free of algae- so i give him the little algae wafers. He really loves them. I wouldn't ever consider having two of those guys that were full grown in the same tank unless it was like a 100gallon tank.

Answer 5

My mother owns one and he is 16 inches long, and lives in a 30 gallon tank. Mine is only about 4 inches at the moment. She used to feed him algae discs that you can find at any pet supply store or walmart, but is now afraid to feed him those cause she doesn't know if he'll choke on them or not. My advice is to go to the petco, etc and ask the people there if there is anything bigger you can feed him!

Answer 6

No but I do have a Yellow belly sap sucker.