When I first saw Pleco, I was amazed to see a weird looking creature clinging onto the aquarium surface and then moving vertically with its suction cup. What I didn’t realize is that it is actually part of the catfish family and is considered a freshwater tropical fish itself. Also known as sucker fish, pleco is often left unattended in the aquarium fending for itself because the main reason that aquarist put it there is because of its characteristics of a good cleaner that get rid of uneaten food plus waste and most important of all, as Algae Eater.
Soon I begin to research and read up a lot of articles regarding this fish species and I managed to learn a great deal about them through my own experience raising pleco in my community aquarium as well. Pleco originated from the rivers of South America and domesticated in home aquariums as pets. They are an extremely efficient algae eater because once I had a problem dealing with sudden bloom of algae growth in my aquarium and soon after I introduced the fish, all the sides and corners were swept clean of algae.
Other than feeding only on algae alone, pleco will eat and accept virtually anything that you put into the aquarium and left as waste. They are considered one of the best companions for my discus tank and later part moved it to my large community aquarium. Being hardy, they will survive even the toughest water condition not suitable for normal fish while sometimes even when I fail to treat the water properly resulting with the death of my tetra, they will still live through without developing any health problem. As such, they are also considered one of the best starter fish when you first setup your tropical aquarium.
The one that I had was a small size pleco which I bought when it was young at three inches long and it grew to almost one feet in length with body thickness about two inches. Pleco is very territorial and in any community tank, there can only be one type of this fish because it will pick and chase after the other if a newcomer is introduced to the tank. I never took the effort to breed my pleco but the one that I had actually lasted and survive for two years before I decided to give it away to a friend involved in fish breeding business.
Nowadays, there are different types of pleco sold in aquarium stores. Most common are normal pleco, which exhibits a mix of dark and light brown patch all over the body while the clown pleco appears with a stripe pattern. There’s even a variety of interesting greenish colored pleco with yellow spots appearing on the body which is also known as gold nugget pleco. This special variety is highly sought after because of their beautiful mix of coloration and they also make excellent tank mates. Another thing that you should aware of is that plecos are sometimes identified using numbers beginning with the L prefix such as L018, L168, L204 and so forth until a scientific name is available to classify the different species. Different catfish family which are also algae eater include bristlenose, otocinclus and corydoras catfish.
