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Re: Pleco's and Plants



"Birdy" <birdy at aa_net> sez:
> I am new to the aquarium world, and I have recieved contradictory
> information about Plecos.  I have been told by several local aquarists,
> never to put Plecos in an aquarium that has plants, because Plecos will dig
> them up, eat them, or otherwise destroy the plants.
> 
> On the other hand, many people on the Aquatic Plants Mailing list seem to
> list Plecos as fish they have in thier tanks.
> 
Once upon a time, before there was a terrible accident involving a bit
of soap, I had a pleco in my planted aquarium. It had a piece of
driftwood to gnaw on, and an occasional slice of zucchini.  It never dug
up any plants (the goldfish did that :-) but it did eat holes in the
sword plant leaves. It didn't eat all the way through the leaf, it just
damaged the top surface badly enough that a hole quickly developed.  The
plants grew just fine and didn't seem to notice, they just looked a
little ragged.  The pleco never harmed any other plants except the
swords.  HTH.

Bob