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They are pretty quick, I got mine at about 3cm and after about 7 months they are about 9cm. so they have grown more than 2"

Just thought this topic might be of interest. By the way, I was not the one to create this topic.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10863

yeah, all the common plecs I've had have grown fairly quicly. now bristlenose on the other hand are quite a different story.

Just as I thought, it's unanimous. There are several LFS workers around here who like to say otherwise Thanks for reassuring me that I'm NOT crazy

><>Dani<><

Well, I've had Petey, my L187b for around 6 months now and I think he's grown about half an inch so far. But he is a dwarf species and the larger ones DO seem to grow much faster so I think it depends upon which of the many species you're talkin about

I think they go thru growth spurts, like people do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Nowhere did I say that ancistrus cannot reach 5" in length. Rather, having one bound from 0,5" to 3" in four months just doesn't happen. I've had some L-144 fry come full circle at nearly 6" as well.

I see my common plec growing by the day or so it seems. I got him in September last year and he was around 10cms and now he's around 25 But the chocolate plec is a bit slower in growing and has gone from 15cms to about 23cms in the same amount of time.

I have full grown bristlenoses that are 5-6 and a half inches, had no problems at all getting them there

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Once again, nothing personal, I find that growing 6" in 6 months is nigh impossible. I do have my fair share of hypostomines in a 1000+ gallon pond (heated, of course), and have found that, at most, they spurt 3 inches in a year (I catch them systematically once every few months to check the numbers--they have not bred . If you have pics, they would be nice, as I'm sure that's breaking some sort of record.



Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 02-Apr-2005 18:48

IME, commons grow pretty quickly. However, I had a BN that grew really slowly... It was maybe 1 1/2" when I got it and six months later, it was maybe 2".

On the other hand, it died of unknown causes... for no reason that anyone can figure out. It's possible that something was wrong with him from the start, but I don't know. RIP Daffy Dilly.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

In your EXPERIENCE, are plecos generally fast or slow growers? I've heard different things from different people from different places. I really would prefer personal experience to be the basis for your answer.

As the two extremes, let's use oscars and clown loaches. Oscars are commonly known to be quick growers, while clown loaches are known to be slow. Are plecos more like oscars or more like clown loaches? Yes there are factors that influence growth rates, such as feeding, water quality, etc etc. I'm just going for a general idea here. No need to be scientific or anything.

Vote away

><>Dani<><

Very fast, IME. My commons all went from 3" (when I bought them) to at least 9", and several larger than that, within 6 months (when they went out to the pond). Twice-weekly spinach feeding helped a lot.
I've also found that BNs are fast growers until they approach full size.

-Molly
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Oh, pug, sorry. I had somehow gotten the impression that your BNs had grown from 0.5" to 3". Maybe I didn't read it correctly.

Yeah, I'm with Jon here. My bristlenose has not grown more than 3/4 of an inch in the five or so months that I've had it, and my blue phantom hasn't gotten any larger in a month. On the flip side of the coin, most of the common pleco species are pretty danged fast growers. It totally depends on the genus in most cases, and sometimes even on each individual species of fish.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

The fry I received were about 1 to1 1/2 inches. Seemed horribly small at the time. Now they are probably all at or around 2 inches.

Other: depends on the species.

The larger ancistrids are comparatively slow growers (about two inches per year), presumably psuedacanthicus, panaque, and baryancistrus. Though I've never personally kept a psuedacanth before, I can vouch for the other two. On the other hand, hypostomus sp. (especially of the subgrouping hypostomus-cochliodon) grow alarmingly fast. I have, as of now, x1 hypostomus cochliodon, x3 p. scrophus, x1 p punctatus, and x4 chaeostoma sp. in the pond. Most, minus the rubbernoses, grow at about 1" per year now, whereas, in younger times, they were hustling past 2" per year, some even three. Seeing as how most people here have only ever kept ancistrus and pterygophicthys sp., you're better off posting this on Planet Catfish.



Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 02-Apr-2005 19:00

I think a lot of plecos really are not properly fed. They are quick growers ime.

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

I think they are fast growers, not as fast as Oscars, but they grow pretty quick.


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I've only had mine for about 2 months, and it's grown about a half inch already, if not more.

Heidi--love that smiley! Hooray for Smiley Central!

edit- Just had another good look, and the new guy is about two inches long now. DEFINATELY fast growers!

Last edited by harleysiber at 09-Apr-2005 16:44