# Dead Sailfin Pleco



## SammyJo (Oct 22, 2012)

I was on holiday last week, returned home to find 'Big Dave' my Sailfin Pleco dead :crying:

Im at a loss really to what happened to him. 

Bit more info on the tank - 160 litre marina with two marina s20 filters and heater / 2x lights, water temp is kept at 27-28c and lots of live plants.

He has lived in the tank since last September - He was 1-2 inches, he grew to 8-9 inches. I haven't added any new fish in around 2-3 months, he was feeding well on the pleco tablets and has mopani wood and bogwood in the tank to chomp on and the odd small piece of cucumber once a fortnight. He had a piece of slate that runs almost the full length of the tank to give him a big hiding place. 

I have the API test kit and tested the water, all the levels are spot on, and are the same as they have been for months. I change 20-25% of the water twice a week and rinse out the filters in the dirty water, using API tap water conditioner.

I thought he would be with us for years to come, as they usually live a long life and are hardy fish. 

Anyone know of anything that could have caused his death?


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## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

Hi, sorry to hear about your fish. The honest answer was your tank was way too small for him; a 160l tank is too small to house a 9 inch fish. 

I would think about getting one of the smaller species of Pleco instead.


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## SammyJo (Oct 22, 2012)

labradrk said:


> Hi, sorry to hear about your fish. The honest answer was your tank was way too small for him; a 160l tank is too small to house a 9 inch fish.
> 
> I would think about getting one of the smaller species of Pleco instead.


I didn't know he was a sailfin when I bought him, or how big he would get. I was told my tank is more than big enough. Since buying him and reading up on them I new the information I had from the LFS was rubbish and that he would need a bigger tank (same story with the Bala sharks I bought) I was planning on upgrading my tank this summer. I wont buy another Sailfin, not even sure I want to put another pleco in there, I now read up on fish before I buy them (and get them from a LFS that actually know what they are selling).

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Sadly that's a common thing with many lfs's. At the end of the day they want to make a sale, and not many people have tanks big enough for common or sailfin plecos, clown loaches, common goldfish, etc, all of which are very popular fish and people don't realise how big they will get.

A bristlenose pleco would be fine for your tank size as they stay small, or you could look into a group of cory catfish or some of the botia species


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## SammyJo (Oct 22, 2012)

I hadn't noticed how much algae he used to eat - the glass has never had any on it what so ever - since I lost Dave I have noticed algae forming on the glass.

Maybe I should get another pleco? 

Any recommendations for a small pleco, apart from the bristlenose? (OH doesnt like them) : He wants a 'brightly coloured L number' - but I don't want to buy a pleco that will grow too big?

Otherwise I will have to twist him round my little finger to reconsider a bristlenose Singing:

Thanks x


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

I believe you can get different colour varieties of bristlenoses - if you can hunt out one of them, maybe he'd reconsider?

There are other small varieties of pleco, such as bulldog plecs, but I'm not sure if they're such enthusiastic algae eaters.

Other options could be a group of otos, or a nerite snail - both are great algae eaters.

But the best thing to do is to work out why you're getting so much algae, and try to remedy that - it's always better than buying fish specifically to eat algae. Plecos in particular are known to get 'lazy' about eating algae as they get older. It's better to buy a fish because you like it, rather than to do a job 


Edit - just checked, and bulldog plecos are good algae eaters, but not particularly colourful. Clown plecos are attractive small plecos, but not so keen on algae.


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## SammyJo (Oct 22, 2012)

Thanks Naomi - your advice is always gratefully received and much appreciated  ( Sorry for all my questions :laugh: )


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