Pleco ID please

[jacobfata]

I bought him labeled as a Blue-eye albino pleco. I was told he will not damage my plants and be even though almost barley two inches will clean my entire 55 gallon discus aquarium. Anyone with a knowledge of plecos know rather or not this guy cleaning the 55 setup WITHOUT damaging my plants lol?

 

[DarkOne]

Albinos have red eyes. That's a yellow blue eyed BN pleco. They usually don't damage plants. They're great for diatom algae (brown algae) but don't do much for green algae. You should feed them veggies weekly.

 

[jacobfata]

How large do these guys get? Should he be enough for cleaning the tank? Or should I add more cleanup crew species.

 

[Tobiassorensen]

They grow til aprox 15cm. This will be fine in your tank and will do a great job for you. Feed him cucumber that you peeled the skin of from occationally and he will munch it. Same goes with zuccini and other softer veggies.

 

[Matteus]

They grow til aprox 15cm. This will be fine in your tank and will do a great job for you. Feed him cucumber that you peeled the skin of from occationally and he will munch it. Same goes with zuccini and other softer veggies.

Why peel the skin, is it bad for them?

Also if it is a bristle nosed pleco then it would be a female as it doesn’t have the bristles.

 

[Tobiassorensen]

Why peel the skin, is it bad for them?

Also if it is a bristle nosed pleco then it would be a female as it doesn’t have the bristles.

They dont eat the skin. At least not my group i used to have. I found my biggest male stuck in a cucumber since they dont eat the skin.

 

[Matteus]

Lol that’s kind of funny. When in doubt, make your own cave.

Mine used to eat everything but the skin but the last few weeks, they have been eating the skin first. Just wanted to make sure it’s not toxic or something lol

 

[Tobiassorensen]

Lol that’s kind of funny. When in doubt, make your own cave.

Mine used to eat everything but the skin but the last few weeks, they have been eating the skin first. Just wanted to make sure it’s not toxic or something lol

Nah its not toxic but my biggest male got stuck in it. Dont know for how long when i did go away for the weekend and came home he was stuck.

 

[DarkOne]

Bristlenose plecos start to grow bristles around 3-4". They can get up to 5-6". Males will have bristles growing up the nose and females usually don't have any but some might have small bristles arould the "lip" but not up the nose.

My BNs and other herbivore plecos go after the skin first. You should scrub the vegetable before cutting up and feeding your pleco. There can be insecticides on the skin. Zucchini is better than cucumbers.

You mentioned a cleanup crew. You might want to look at a school of corydoras. Sterbai can thrive in warm water Discus like. Corydoras will sift up the substrate and help keep it clean.

 

[jacobfata]

Thank you all for your suggestions. He’s in a 55 gallon aquarium with 11 two inch discus I’m growing out. 15 neon tetras and a female betta. In another topic I was told to remove the pleco because he will attack the discus for their slime.. ‍ Don’t you think they’re too many discus and the “aggression” would be spread out?

Also are you guys saying he/she is a bristle nose? My aquarium is heavily planted I’m just hoping he won’t eat them, so what’s your input regarding that? I need my plants and discus to be safe with this pleco. I’m going to make the tank full, I have more live plants and driftwood coming.. I was told Cory cats would be too bothersome for the discus. Shouldn’t the pleco be enough?