Something in the water?

[AW5]

I have some BBN plecos that are doing something strange.

I have 4 of them. 3 at home in Dallas and 1 here at College Station. The one here is growing a lot while the ones in Dallas aren't really growing (they look healthy and all, just not growing). There are 2 in a 30 and 1 in a 10 in Dallas and the 1 here is in a 16. All the tanks have algae...so I don't understand.

Could all the crap in College Station water be making it grow that much more?

[ElijahTurtle]

Hey Woogie(I presume),
Is your mom taking care of the ones here in Dallas? Since your at school most of the time, it would seem reasonable that the difference is in the care given to fish. With out knowing the water paramaters, temps, & feeding schedules it would be hard to say. It could simply be a matter of the one you have there having less competition for food etc. I'm sure your probably more attentive to the one you have with you. Makes all the difference in the world.

[AW5]

I am Woogie and would've made my sn so had the administrators not blocked it.

On to this...they are taken care of in the same manner. The ones at home and the one here don't get fed supplements. Unless....which I just thought of this, but I have 4 loaches here and I feed them bottom feeder shrimp pellets. Could it be that he's getting some of those? It's hard for me to believe that he would be simply because the loaches usually attack it until it's gone...along with all the livebearers in the tank, as well.

Could this be it? I'll have my mom try an experiment and we'll see :)

Also...I don't think the two in the 30 gal are really competing much because it's a 30 gal long (I dunno if they come in anything else...) and they have a TON of room for them each to have their own territory. Of course, I know that as they get older, they'll probably need to be put in separate tanks, but for the moment they're only about an inch long.

[bra8ndy8]

lmao abot smelling that fish!!!!!!

[AW5]

O.o

...smelling a fish...?

[ElijahTurtle]

Well glad to have you over here woog, I just now saw the fun ya'll had in the lounge over on DFB. Sorry it came to that. I just saw the college station & the initials. didn't take muchto put 2 & 2 together since I knew from your dfb sig that you were in College Station.

On to the pleco, It's really likely that he is getting some crumbs from the pellets. What are the other tank inhabitants? that could have an impact too. If one has a higher bio-load than the other, it could simply be a slight difference in water quality. Unless the ones here are showing signs of distress & weakness I would stress over it. Could be a difference in sex of the fish too. I wouldn't worry about the size difference too much, it doesn't really mean the others aren't just as healthy. There are just alot of factors to consider.

[AW5]

If anything, the one here in College Station has way more bioload, but I try my best to do bi-weekly water changes to make up for that. His inhabitants are mainly livebearers, plus a female betta and 4 loaches. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much ground space in this 16, but he seems pretty content on all the plants and glass and decor, etc.

It's about the same for the ones at home in the 30 except no other bottom dwellers except them. And the one in the 10 has 3 cories, but he's as small as he was before the cories were added.

I dunno what it is. And I figured it wasn't a health thing because they're all eating fine from what I can tell. My mom feeds the big pleco (Harley the giant) squash about twice a week, should she put some in the 30 gal to see if they start growing?

Actually...I'll ask her to do that in the 30 and then get her to buy some of the shrimp pellets and feed that to the 10...we'll see :)

[China8USA]

I bought some BSN plecs and they never grew much at all. Maybe there is a dwarf strain? Or multiple species under the same common name?

[AW5]

These are all siblings. I think I forgot to mention that. I got them from a lot that an old member got from Paul. They're quite a few months old...so I just don't understand :(

[ElijahTurtle]

:confuzeld: Hmm...got me. Maybe they are stunted. LOL I dunno.

[AW5]

I'll call my mom tomorrow and talk to her about the experiment...hopefully she'll be up for it and I'll keep y'all updated.

[arnold]

the water by locale can make a huge dif in bn behavior and growth. I know I was always jealous of bristlenose dude when he lived in south Arlington, his were breeding not stop, producing the by the hundreds, maybe thousands. he moved south, new water slowed em all down, still breeding but at a much slower rate i hear and growing slower. mine are breeding regularly, but growing slower than his were, and not as many,
he had tankfulls
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/paulscar/DCP_1813.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/paulscar/50.jpg

[China8USA]

wow nice setup there arnold. very cool

[kewlkatdady]

sweet...

[bra8ndy8]

OHHH WOW Arnold!!!