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Will a sail fin pleco or something similar be able to knock out these established plants

Swords of all sorts
Crypts of all sorts
giant vallis
java fern of all sorts
anubis nana petite
anubis nana
dwarf lilly
ambulia
hydro (var)
Aponogetons of all sorts

Last edited by Mr Moosegills at 10-Jun-2005 04:59

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

A Sailfin Pleco can grow up to 40-50cm & with that size it will knock any plant. There are some smaller species of Pleco's that will be fine with Plants.


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They are fine when they are small. but once they about 15cm they might dig them up. I got a 12cm common plec and it seems fine with them.

i didn't know that they would do any thing to real plants i thought they ate algea

If your java ferns and anubias are attached to wood or rocks, then they will probably be fine. While he may not be able to totlly uproot the cryps, if he digs around them or thrashes through them, it may be enough to make them start "melting." With broad leafed plants such as swords and aponogetons, the pleco may try to rasp the algae off them, and in so doing he could inadvertantly rasp right through the tender leaves of these plants. Thicker leaves like anubias will probably withstand this behavior.
I have recently had to set up a new tank specifically designed so my pleco wouldn't disrupt the plants, so it's been my experience that tanks planted with lots of stem plants and tender leaves aren't really compatible with large plecos. It's not impossible, I just think you may not be as happy with your planted tank if you move a pleco in.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Mine is ~5" long now, add on that big tail and it's a decent sized fish. I have anubias and Amazon swords in the tank. It doesn't bother the plants except to clean the anubias leaves. There's one in particular it seems to have claimed as its own and likes to rest under the leaves.

This pic was taken four months ago; both plec and plant have grown considerably since then



Theresa_M attached this image:


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