Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: biffster on November 30, 2014, 01:18:07 PM

Title: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on November 30, 2014, 01:18:07 PM
any one else in to plecs and L numbers

as you all know i am big in to my
plecs L numbers and cat fish of really
any shape size sort or description
is any one else
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Richard W on November 30, 2014, 01:31:48 PM
Are you a member of the forum at :
http://www.planetcatfish.com/ ?

A lot of UK catfish people seem to be active on there. As far as I can tell, most of the people on Thinkfish are more into general community tanks.
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on November 30, 2014, 02:45:33 PM
i am a member of planet catfish
but i like general forums plus
i dont like being pushed in to
up dating what i am keeping
every 30 or 40 days   
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: chris213 on November 30, 2014, 06:30:59 PM
iam new to fish keeping in the last 9 months but it was to things that first caught my eye to tropical fish keeping one was shrimp currently have 17 ammano shrimp happily playing around in my community tank and the second one was a plec or to be more specific  lo81 golden nugget pleco which i also have in my community tank for about 6 months . today i just purchased to golden bristle nose pleco,s and had a long intresting look at a zebra pleco but priced at £150 pounds  left me with a choice to wait a few days and do alot more thnking about that.
iam also currently in the process of setting up a very large tank that i would like to use to keep some large pleco,s in so i could say that iam very intrested in them but still doing alot of research and thinking as one thing i have noticed is that l number plec's command large prices to go with .
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Gav on December 01, 2014, 06:13:56 PM
I'm also planning to get a couple of Pleco's for my big tank. The wee Ancistrus is fine in the smaller tank but I'd really like something a bit special for the bigger one  8)
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Rich_D on December 03, 2014, 10:24:25 PM
I've got a small bristlenose in my community tank and have kept bristle noses and the common Plec in my younger naive fish keeping days when nobody told me they grew so big!

I was wondering if I could have a gold nugget plec in with my current bristlenose?
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on December 04, 2014, 01:05:54 AM
it will be ok to keep a golden nugget
with a bristle nose
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Rich_D on December 04, 2014, 09:01:36 PM
Thanks for that biffster. I do like plecs but when I see the price of the 1 fish for the rarer types I can't bring myself to buy one lol.
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: chris213 on December 05, 2014, 07:36:14 AM
my golden nugget cost 45 pounds from one of my local ma aquatics shops my two bristle nose was two ( very small) for £11 but i havw decided that the zebra is just to expensive for me at £150 each and  will settle for a green phantom priced at £68 pounds so iam with you rich plec's are ceretainly not a cheep option but i have to admit since i bought my two bristle nose last week they have quickly become the focus of not my just my attention but everyone who comes to visit look straight for them and cant take there eyes off them so i guess it proves it dosent have to be the expensive ones to get a reaction :)
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Richard W on December 05, 2014, 09:47:42 AM
I inherited two albino (golden) bristlenoses with a used tank. Personally I think they are pretty ugly, though they do have "character". The main problem is that they have eaten a lot of my plants, the tank is still densely planted but only Java fern and moss, plus Sagittaria and Echinodorus tenellus (Dwarf chain sword) have survived and thrived, all the soft leaved plants have been chomped. Probably I didn't give them enough fresh veg. They keep the tank glass free of algae very nicely, very good window cleaners.
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on December 05, 2014, 09:57:09 AM
i give bristle nose away i have that many
thing is the fish i am in to keeping are not cheap
but i dont like to put a price on them this is one
of the species  i keep its a L397 they retail at around £100 each
i also keep L325 jari blue
L 397 (http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg75/biff456/l397_zps730f94bf.jpg) (http://s245.photobucket.com/user/biff456/media/l397_zps730f94bf.jpg.html)

L325 (http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg75/biff456/5_zpsbd9001f9.jpg) (http://s245.photobucket.com/user/biff456/media/5_zpsbd9001f9.jpg.html)
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on December 05, 2014, 09:58:28 AM
plecs do not eat plants its a myth
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Richard W on December 05, 2014, 10:23:54 AM
Mine obviously haven't read the right books. I've watched them reduce leaves of Hygrophila polysperma to nothing, eventually stripping all of the leaves from every plant. They also feed avidly on lettuce and spinach leaves, cucumber and pumpkin, all of which are plants.
As you have said before, bristlenoses are not true plecs, so maybe that is the answer. Meanwhile I trust the evidence of my own observations over the past year of watching them.
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: biffster on December 05, 2014, 10:29:37 AM
the to plants you mentioned do you use fertilizer
or co2 these plants do not fare well with out some sort
of plant food most of my tanks are planted and the plants
are never touched by the L numbers i keep oh by the way
do you have any bog wood in your tank most plecs are
wood munchers they also like algae 
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Richard W on December 05, 2014, 11:25:41 AM
I have 10 tanks, all densely planted, with a soil under gravel or sand substrate. The Hygrophila is growing well  in all of them except the one with the bristlenoses. I don't use CO2 or fertilisers in any of them but all the plants grow well without, I reckon the fish produce enough of both, all tanks have a decent load of fish, up to full capacity.

I first thought they were just eating algae of the leaves until I saw the leaves disappearing before my eyes. They do clean algae off the Java fern, but don't touch the leaves. I weighed down a piece of unblanched soft (butterhead) lettuce to the tank bottom and they soon ate that. So I reckon they do eat some plants, but only the softest ones.

I have a big piece of bogwood in their tank, it's almost the length of the tank.

When I got them, they had been kept by the previous owners  in a small tank with nothing but plastic plants and "ornaments". The advert had said "albino catfish" and I assumed they would be Corydoras so was surprised to see what they were. When I put them in my tank, they found the bogwood in seconds and immediately clamped on and started chomping on it and stayed there for several hours. They are about twice the size they were when I got them so are clearly doing OK. The other plants in the tank have grown and spread to fill up the space.
Title: Re: any one else in to plecs and L numbers
Post by: Gav on December 05, 2014, 01:55:05 PM
How long would I have to wait before adding a plec to my 190 litre tank? It took 4 weeks to cycle using a bit of media from my other tank and my 8 Tiger and 8 Ruby barbs have been in a week now.

I was thinking of heading to the fish shop this weekend and am unsure what to add next. I'd like to add loaches in the future but reading the seriously fish site I'm aware I'll have to wait for a few more months until the tank matures a bit. Is this the same for a plec?

I've put 2 big pieces of mopani wood and another great chunk of bogwood in there with the intention of adding a plec or two so I hopefully I won't have to wait too long.