Plecostomus

         A quick glance at that name and you think immediately of (... if you're me) some awesome dinosaur like creature.

That's what you think of. oh wait. This is a fish blog so obviously it's a fish. hold on.

   

There... THIS is what you think of (if you're me)... well actually they're algae eaters. So there's no teeth. And I guess they don't really swim on two legs. But regardless of these small facts, the Plecostomus is still a beast of a fish. No really. Just to prove that my young images of this thing were not completely unfounded, check this out.

  Note. This is NOT my Plecostomus (Pleco for short). It's a picture I found online. (http://badmanstropicalfish.com/species-gallery/catfish/plecostomus.html if you're interested) But this is actually still not as big as they CAN get. A Plecostomus can grow up to 2 feet (sometimes larger) They really are beasts.

    My Pleco, Gat, is only about 5" long. Still a beast. Though I think he thinks he's smaller than he is. He had a fake stump he used to hide in, but outgrew within about a month, but he was DETERMINED to stay in that stump (which I didn't even get for him, mind you, I got for my Golden Algae eater, but that's another story in and of itself) He thought he was hiding... this is what we saw.

... cute... but pathetic. I got him a respectable sized log for the 75 gallon that he actually fits in.

     Anyway, now he has a big tank to be beastly in. Soon he'll be joined by my other pleco, Hazel, who is a different kind (I was not going to have two dinosaurs in one tank). He's a Rubber-lip pleco.

        Rubber lipped plecos are like the smaller cousins of Plecostomus. They usually only get to be about 10" . I'm convinced Hazel is a midget though, because he's only like... 1.5" at best. He's tiny... but then, when they're both stuck to the glass, it's something like this...

Hilarious XD. Anyway that's a short bit on my Pleco's

some facts. (because, I should give them I guess)

        Pleco's are usually very docile though when they get bigger they can be aggressive, depends on the fish.
       
     Though algae eaters, they do require more than just algae, or they risk starving. They'll eat any veggie wafer or algae disks.

      Plecostomus can grow to be 2' long. 24", so they're suggested to be kept in a 30+ gallon tank (one gallon of water for every inch of fish)

     Pleco's seem (at least mine) to be more active at night. If you have live plants, make sure they're rooted well, they could be pulled up, and I find that giving them an algae wafer right before turning off the light is the best chance for it to be eaten and not left to disintegrate in the tank.

And that's all I can think of for now.