how many plecos in tank is safe

consider it full when it looks like this:

You've just got one adult pair? The rest are all fry at different ages?

If you are asking if you can put a 10'' pleco in a 10g tank, then the answer is no. You have to think about their size and how much you are feeding them. Their bio load is much higher than average as well.

You won't have any aggression issues with the growing juvie males towards the adult male until they are spawning age. A 10G isn't going to comfortably house very many growing plecos and will provide little biofilm when divided up between a few growing plecos. I have two baby plecos in my 10G cory fry tank to help clean up and the tank is spotless. The babies are only around 1" or so.

There's no stocking guidelines for a growout pleco tank. I have about 100 in my 29G but the parents are in their own tanks. And once the fry are big enough I've been selling the older ones. Now I too will be holding some over the cold winter months and I'm hoping to be able to do it as long as I can in the 29G. My little guys are the slowest growing BN variety though. But even so it's going to require tons of veggies and tons of frequent water changes. You're going to have a lot of work on your hands if you fill all 7 tanks up with varying amounts of plecos. Maybe you can pick up a used 55G to winter them over in. Keep the parents by themselves in a separate tank.

coach_z said:

consider it full when it looks like this:

Click to expand...

My goodness!

So I do have room for an Oscar in a 5 gallon tank after all!