I was looking online the other night at plecos, because I figured the next one I get I want to be a little unusual looking. I came across this one . My question is, will it be too small of a tank mate when my next oscar gets full grown? It only grows to 6 inches and oscars get up to a foot or more. Will that be a problem?

I had a Gold Nugget some time ago, but it's a tough pleco to keep healthy.


Hard one on the food, and mine refused most any food and died after several months.
On the size, a full grown Oscar may eat your L18 easily.

L18 can be very shy and will be out eaten very easily by other fish.
Plus it's a very slow growing pleco.
My advice, do not keep this with oscars, but give it his own quiet tank with slow communityfish.
It's beautifull enough to have it's own tank. It doesn't need a mega tank....

this pic says enough.


The pleco eaten is a Gibbiceps, a fast growing pleco, but that did him no good.
btw, both the pleco and the Oscar died after the incident...

The thing is, I want to get the pleco while the Oscar is little so they will grow together, but I don't want a three foot long pleco (LOL) so I was hoping to find one that didn't get quite as big, but 6 inches seemed a little small to me. Anyway, I guess I'll keep looking. Kinda had my heart set on the Gold Nugget, but I'm not sacrificing an expensive fish for an oscar meal (and possibly lose the oscar, too!)

JennyTmouh wrote:


Yeah plecs and catfish types are the worst to have your oscar try and eat. It's very difficult to remove them as some have spines that can embed themselves into the sides of the oscars mouth.

you could try a bristlenose catfish, look pretty much the same as a pleco but smaller. I've had a 3 or 4 inch female in with my O for about 2 yrs with no problem, i added a male a little while ago but think he lasted 3 days before my O decied to have a fancey dinner....males get bigger than the females and get cool brstles on there nose hence there name

bigtdotcom wrote:


Whoa. From the title I thought this was an ex-gf of johnny phoenix thread. Whew.

Anyways, yeah if I had to do it over again I'd get a bristlenose...

Or get a Pseudacanthicus...
I can tell you your O won't mess with this spiny fellow.




but I'm affraid not every plecofanatic will like the look of the monster.
It's kinda different then the gold nugget in appearance!