Pleco's

[Chris.K]

guys am looking to add a couple of plecos/ bristlenoses to my tank. most of what ive read however suggest they need a ph of 6.5-7.5. considering my ph is around 8+ and my water is quite hard, is this going to be a problem ?

[Foti]

guys am looking to add a couple of plecos/ bristlenoses to my tank. most of what ive read however suggest they need a ph of 6.5-7.5. considering my ph is around 8+ and my water is quite hard, is this going to be a problem ?

first think of the reason you want to add them ?

if you choose to add any go for the bristlenose they will handle it the best out of all pleco's

[Chris.K]

i want to add an L333 and a bristlenose as "cleaners" and cos i like them. tell you the truth i dont really know the difference between them all. lol

[Foti]

i want to add an L333 and a bristlenose as "cleaners" and cos i like them. tell you the truth i dont really know the difference between them all. lol

the L333 would not be a good cleaner but would be good at being a poo machine lol most to all of these types of fish come from fast flowing rivers which are full of dead rotting trees fruit so on so there water conditions are very different to the high ph agressive cichlid

your cichlids will not be happy in there low acidic conditions, you would have somet dease and non active sick fish after a while

okay that might be an extreme but you can see how they differ

as for difference in the 2 cats the bn is more hardy can handle the high ph harder conditions better than the rest but still they would be under some stress !

i hope this helped

[Priscacara]

I have both bn and plecs in my African tanks and they do just fine. The conditions arent by the book of course but they have never appeared stressed or had any other problems so far. The ph is 8 to 8.5 and the water is hard, when introducing them I took a lot longer than normal acclimatising them in the bags before adding, around 3 hours or so if I remember right. The bristlenose have been breeding since the first few weeks, 1 survivor that I know of but its a community tank so I never expected too many to make it.

[cpfc]

Have you thought of a Synodontis eg Synodontis Petricola or Multipunctatus? They are from the rift lakes. Bristlenoses are hardy and I have a pair in my tank keeping it clean. You could slowly acclimatise them in your QT tank. I rarely see the Bristlenoses in the day however the Petricolas are great. When you do see the BNs it normally when they are sucking around the glass. Plecs will certainly help finalise that cycle in the your tank. I used to have brown algae but it is all gone.

Whatever catfish you get some driftwood is good for them to chew on especially the BNs. I also got a pair of breeding caves from Age of Aquariums. They are surrounded by rocks.

The only reason I would not add an L number (as I would not add Clown Loaches) is I would rather the tank capacity to be taken by rift lake species and I find they do not match the aesthetics I am after. To me the synos look great in an African tank but that is a personal subjective thing.

I do like the look of the L333 though.

guys am looking to add a couple of plecos/ bristlenoses to my tank. most of what ive read however suggest they need a ph of 6.5-7.5. considering my ph is around 8+ and my water is quite hard, is this going to be a problem ?