Plecos - Minimum Temperatures

digitalphrage

digitalphrage

oh god how did this get here i am n
Nov 14, 2010
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Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.
mrhappyrotter.wordpress.com
As usual, I have done some research on this, but I'm seeing lots of conflicting opinions and information. Figured I'd ask about practical experience. Long story short, I'm going to be doing some tank shuffling in the near future and the only fish I'm unsure of are the plecos.

I have two plecos, both quite small, and while I have the common names, I am not entirely sure of the exact species. One is a clown pleco. He is one of my absolute favorite fish. The other is a rubber lip pleco whom I'm also quite fond of.

Anyway, I'm setting up some unheated tanks and I was curious if either of these species could be acclimated to cooler temperatures? While the daily temperature wouldn't deviate more than a couple of degrees, in the winter time I normally keep my place around 68 degrees, though any given day it might drop as low as 66 or go as high as 71. In the summer, the temps are usually kept around 76 - 78, which I know are fine, so that's not as much a concern.

Has anybody successfully kept either of these plecos in lower temperatures? Thanks for your input. I was going to put this in the bottom feeder forum, but the general section gets more views, so I'm trying here first.
 
Plecos are from South America and live mostly in the Amazon. South Africa has very warm temps,and the rivers are known to be very warm compared to other rivers. Angels, Discus, etc. all also come from there, and live in warm temps.

I would say the ideal temp range is 72F-86F
you could go with these
68F-88F
but the 68 would be kind of pushing it, and since the plecos you have don't get that big, and are more delicate than the larger common plecos, I would say NO. You could try it, but remember tropical fish are tropical fish. :)
Good Luck
 
Yep. I figured as much. I don't want to take any risks with these guys, but I'm also trying to decide on how I want to stock and set-up my tanks. So any and all input is very much appreciated. It would be nice to have something as care free as a pleco to help me keep the unheated tanks clean and to eat the excess fish food, but I realize it's asking a lot from a tropical fish.
 
I've kept BN pleco's in unheated tanks in the basement w/out any problems. The temps of around 66-68 didn't seem to slow down their growth rate at all.
 
I always use 74* as a staple temp in all my tanks :) All plecos are fat, healthy, and awesome.
 
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