Pleco Question

[beN]

Hey Everyone,

So I was wondering, is there a Pleco out there that doesn't produce waste at a alarming rate. Is there a Pleco that just eats veggies???

beN

[SophieThomas]

What size are you hoping to find? We have a rubber-lip in our tank that is very fascinating to watch and produces very little waste.

[Adz1]

most ancistris types eat veggies and don't produce a ton of waste.
though they will eat flakes and other foods if provided.
still being a pleco though they do produce some waste..

[beN]

hmmm..if you feed it veggies as its main diet , i wonder if that will slow down the waste..

i definetly dont want a pleco that goes to town on my driftwood.

id like one to have in my 130G. size isnt really a issue. not really interested in any common pleco's maybe a fancy.

[SophieThomas]

most ancistris types eat veggies and don't produce a ton of waste.
though they will eat flakes and other foods if provided.
still being a pleco though they do produce some waste..

Fraser Aquatics has some neat long-finned bristlenose as well as albino and regular bristlenose. Or at least he did a few months ago

[bowman00]

Doesnt Zebra, eat mostly veggies?

[charles]

Ben, giving the amount of food, your fish will produce waste.

Common seems to produce more waste cause they are not selective of what to eat and they are not shy.

Panaque will deal with algae but will chew on wood. That will also turn to waste. Is it going to chew out your wood, nope. I have the same wood in my tank years with tons of panaque and they did some damage but not enough for the wood to break apart.

For max algae control, bristlenose is best.

And if you don't like pleco, you can always go with flagtails.

[taureandragon76]

I second the flagtails, probably one of the best cleaners out there. They will even eat the waste of other fish

[bettyboop]

What is 'Flagtail" please?

[2wheelsx2]

I think several people have answered this accurately already, but there are numerous species that will subsist mostly on vegetation/vegetables, but they are opportunistic feeders and we eat other things should they become available.

However, in terms of waste, since the tank is a closed system, the more a fish eats, the more waste it generates. Just because the poop is smaller and less nasty looking than pleco poop doesn't mean there is less of it. Pleco poop is just more unsightly, and they tend to eat more per their body volume.

Even if you use little cories, if you get enough to handles overfeeding, then you have a waster problem. The only way to get that waste out of the tank is with gravel vac'ing and water changes. Anything else is just cosmetic. So you may have a cleaner looking tank, but the nitrates/ammonia could be through the roof.