Vampire Pl*cos

[Torpedo]

I recently came across a Vampire Pl*co. He was amazing except the price was pretty steep...$45 for a 2-3" fish...that's a lot of money per inch.

I cannot find any info on these guys. Are they fairly hardy? Are they "meat-eaters" versus algae eaters? How big do they get? Are they worth the money?

I have a hard time keeping pl*cos alive to begin with. I have litteraly NO algae in my tank and it does not make too much sense to me to supplement just for the sake of supplementing.

What do you people think?

*GOLDFISH*

 

[keprydak]

you might try out planetcatfish.com . they have info on every pleco ever existing.

 

[wayne]

Vampire Catfish, Leporacanthicus galaxias, up to 10 inches. Feed on shrimp, prawns... Keep the current high, clean, well oxygenated water. That's a pretty normal price though I'm sure someone will say they can get them for 19.99. Not a fish to buy over the internet if you can buy locally as they're all wild caught, so they can have a variety of diesease, stress level and condition - I'd pay 45 for a fish that will live rather than 19.99 for one that's just come into the country with stomach problems, slowly emaciates and dies. You ned to see the fish ou're buying.
Why do you think your plecs keep dying - do you have enough food, clean enough water, enough oxygen?

 

[Torpedo]

Not sure why they keep dying. Never had a problem before (years ago).

Have had the tank for 2 yrs now...amonia is at 0.0, pH is around 7.0, nitrites are 0.0 to .25...depending how soon after a water change I test.

I was always under the impression that all pl*cos eat algae. Then I learned that some are meat eaters or prefer to chew on driftwood. It is VERY possible that I was not prperly feeding the ones I purchased in the past. I would buy for looks and because of the wrong assumption on food, that's my guess why they kept dying. So before I shell out $50 on a fish, I just want to make sure that I get the correct information on them.

It seems like anything other than a common plec will require more special care than I can provide, so I night as well save my money. I've seen Royals, and Spotteds and some pretty interesting looking ones, but I have a feeling I would be wasting my money getting some of those.

 

[wayne at home]

Emaciation is a common form of death unfortuneately - they aren't agressive feeders. I leave pieces of shrimp overnight for my nuggets, they're too big for some random cichlid to just snap up as it's sinking

 

[madhippoz]

The night time suggestion is a good one. Mine can be seen occasionally out and about during the day, but he almost always comes out entirely during the night time (he's a common pleco, rather than a vampire). So a couple times a week I drop in a sinking Algae disk for him before I go to bed. My Colombians are less active, and they don't like the Algae disks anyway. A lot of people think they they can survive purely off the algae in your tank, and that's not necessarily true. They need variety in their diet like any other fish. I've heard that most of them really go in for vegetables such as zucchinni and cucumber. Mine is pretty small still, only about 2.5 inches, but he doesn't seem to like either, perhaps he's just picky . Driftwood is important though, mine hides out almost entirely around the large piece of driftwood and sucks up little pieces of it. Hows that for Fibre in your diet .

 

[wayne at home]

I can't even leave algae tablet in my tanks, something will get them before the plecs.
I don't think too many plecs do well on just algae. I even feed my bristlenoses shrimp, bloodworms and so on to get them into bredding shape. Algae is just a subsistence diet