Nubie in SoCal

[b.reder]

Howdy-

I am a full time Pediatric Dentist and a part time organic farmer in Oceanside,CA.
I have had community tanks, on and off, for several years. As a joint project with my grandson, we have decided to attempt to breed Plecos. Which ones? Ah- that is the 64 dollar question. We are in the process of setting up a 75 gal tank. I have thought about the Butterfly Pleco or the Golden Nugget but I am open to suggestions. Even the Golden Vampire and the Emerald look attractive.
How many plecos should be housed in a 75 gal aquarium? Would it be wrong to house more than one species in the same tank? Thank you for reading this and I look forward to working with all of you.

Barry Reder

 

[fissh]

Welcome Barry, I'm new here too, and I think you will find the answers your looking for on this site. Lots of people with hands on experience. The common BN pleco seems to be the easy pleco to breed. It's the only type I've had success with so far. lots of different colors to chose from. Harry

 

[YAL05T]

A hoy hoy and welcome. One of the first things to do is familiarise yourself with scientific names if applicable or L numbers if the species is yet to be officially described. This will enable you to search for much more reliable information on a particular species and determine if the ability to breed it is within your current skill sets. Most folks kick of with the humble ancistrus, aka bristlenose or bushy nose pleco (so much hybridisation has occurred with these guys they are normally just referred to as Ancistrus sp). Then the bug bites and things get crazy!!

 

[Brengun]

Just make sure if you are keeping different species in one tank they have the same diet requirements. You don't want veg eaters with carnivores or the veg eaters will bloat.