Pleco help!

[MyFishyTank]

Hey guys, i need to ask a few questions.

I have bought around 3 plecos now, 2 of them have died and one is only just alive. I can't figure out what i am doing wrong before i added these pleco the tank was around 1 year old, fully cycled and i have cichlids in the tank. I was just going to ask if you guys could PLEASE tell me how to keep these guys successfully i can't figure it out. Should i buy a big one or start from a baby? so confusing!!! please help!

 

[lauraf]

Are you feeding them extra food? Sometimes the algae in the tank isn't enough for them.
Assuming also that your water parameters are good and the tank is the appropriate size?

 

[OrangeCones]

Most plecos need wood to rasp also, do you have driftwood in the tank? And agree with lauraf, water parameters and tank size need to be right for them. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? What sized tank and what other tankmates?

 

[Persistency]

I only had one Pleco that ever survived, and I had to get rid of it because it was too big. It had grown into a beautiful fish though, with very defined markings. We gave it to a pet store in Madison, WI and I'm pretty sure they kept it as a display fish. I would like to also know why all of the Plecos that I bought before that one died. I plan on getting another, but this time I think it'll be a Bristlenose since they're not supposed to get all that big.

 

[Fatman]

Driftwood and feeding them their own food seem to be the 2 most common things forgotten for Plecos.
Did they have any signs of being picked on by the Cichlids?
How long after you added them did they die?
Also, did you happen to change the water chemistry for the Cichlids (hardness or pH maybe)? Though the Commons normally will adapt to pretty much any conditions, if the chemistry is much different then the stores water then it could have just been too big of a change too quickly.