# Driftwood problem...will a pleco help?



## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Hey All,

I am running a 29g, fully cycled tank (stock in my sig), with standard gravel substrate, plastic/silk plants and a mix of mopani and malaysian driftwood. My parameters are good, 10x filtration, and all fish are healthy, so i think I have room for a small plec, but I hadn't got one because I have NO trouble with algae whatsoever. And unless I had the issue I didn't want to introduce a poop machine to the tank.

HOWEVER,

I have increasingly noticed my malaysian wood "shedding." My biweekly water changes include vacuuming up a LOT of wood particles and junk. I figure if I'm vacuuming up the junk anyway, maybe getting a small (6" or so max) pleco would help clean up this wood slime, and I could supplement that with algae wafers.

Sound like a good plan? I'll probably settle for a bristlenose based on cost and availability...but any recommendations for a small wood eating pleco would be appreciated.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

clown plecos will keep that wood smooth, but they still poop out the wood itself so you will still be vacuming.


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

yeah, well i don't mind vacuuming anyway...pleco poop is probably easier than all this wood junk anyway 

Do you think a 4-5" pleco would put me seriously overstocked? It is a 29 with an AC70 (300gph) as the filter.


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## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

Bristlenose won't eat the wood, which sounds like it's deteriorating, but a Panaque species will. The problem is, there are a couple different species of pleco sold as "clown pleco", so you may or may not get the right fish. An L204 (aka flash pleco) would do the job, stays small enough, and there's no mistaking those. In fact, here you go: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1244009402
Incidentally, I'd swap off the pictus, they're an active, schooling fish, and get too large for a 29. The salvini is also going to get too large to be properly housed in that size tank. Minimum tank size for those is 40-55 gallons.


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Thanks for the advice. The sal is a female so it isn't likely she'll get much over 6" if at all. I'd been assured and everything I'd read about the pimcat said about the same, but thanks for letting me know!


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Comic Sans said:


> Thanks for the advice. The sal is a female so it isn't likely she'll get much over 6" if at all. I'd been assured and everything I'd read about the pimcat said about the same, but thanks for letting me know!


 you think a 6" fish in a 29g tank is ok? and an active swimmer as well? uhhh, okay then...

personally I say +1 on the recommendation to swap out the pictus for a pleco to eat the wood. 
I kept clown plecos in a 29g without a problem


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

> you think a 6" fish in a 29g tank is ok?]


Point taken regarding the pictus, however there are plenty of people in the CA section with 1-2 sals, FM, Cons, etc. in 29 gallon tanks. Is it really as bad as you say?


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## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

Pictus are another of those cute little fish that quickly grow too large for smaller tanks. Not as bad as Bala sharks or common pleco's, but they are a wild-caught predatory river fish and prefer room to swim w/out constantly running into barriers with their barbels. It's basically a quality-of-life for the fish thing. Sure, they'll live in a smaller tank, but not happily. They aren't bred in captivity, so they aren't conditioned to tank life from the start either.


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

****. I did a ton of internet research prior to buying and almost everything I found said 4-6" and fine in my sized tank. Well everyone is considerably smaller than that right now and healthy, so I'll keep an eye on it.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Comic Sans said:


> darn. I did a ton of internet research prior to buying and almost everything I found said 4-6" and fine in my sized tank. Well everyone is considerably smaller than that right now and healthy, so I'll keep an eye on it.


problem is that "fine" to some is not "fine" to others. Even when I said a clown pleco in a 29g tank, I paused since I know that some do not think a 29g is large enough and I had to consider whether I had the ammo to defend this fish in a 29g tank. I've also had them in a 90g tank and they appeared to act identically...

it's not an overly small size... and for a less active swimmer, I might even say it's "fine", but I remember the Pictus I used to crowd into a 36" tank and at full size it deserved more...


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

thanks!


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Clown pleco will eat the wood, but in my experience it won't help with wood waste in the water and may even increase.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

LJ said:


> Clown pleco will eat the wood.


That will depend on the species that is being sold as clown pleco. The original species sold by the common name was a _Peckoltia ... P. vittata_ is an algae eater and a very good one (not quite bristlenose or oto's, but a close third behind them).

But perhaps even more common now a days is the dwarf Panaque: P. maccus. Panaques are wood eaters.

It's even more confusing beaucse _Peckoltia pulcher_ ended up as a synomyn of _Panaque maccus_ and it too was sold as the clown pleco.

In theory you can tell the differance by the spoon shaped 'teeth' of the _Panaque_ species, but on the dwarves they are hard to see.


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

> That will depend on the species that is being sold as clown pleco. The original species sold by the common name was a Peckoltia ... P. vittata


True.



> Peckoltia ... P. vittata is an algae eater and a very good one (not quite bristlenose or oto's, but a close third behind them).


I've heard it is not a good algae eater.



> But perhaps even more common now a days is the dwarf Panaque: P. maccus. Panaques are wood eaters.


Yes, this is the fish I have. I can tell by looking at it, and it demolishes wood. In this area, P.maccus is sold as clown pleco.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

_Peckoltia_ aren't good when compared to bristlenose or otos, but they blow away regular plecos and farowellas. Probably on par with rubberlips or sailfin plecos IME.

And yes, the dwarf panaque has become the most common species sold as 'clown pleco' now a days, so that doesn't surprise me.


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