Zebra Pleco purchase I am trying to buy a tank bred juvenile zebra Pleco for my home tank in Hawaii.  I am not adverse to buying from Europe but wonder if there is a closer source so that the fish has a greater chance of surviving the shipping process.  Can you be of any help? < There are a few breeders in the US breeding zebra Plecos but they are very expensive and slow growing. Check Aquabid and be prepared to pay because these fish don't come cheap. BTW they don't eat algae. They are actually shrimp feeders. To get some info on the new Plecos check out planetcatfish.com. -Chuck> Loralyn Cramer

Plecos and Acrylic Aquariums <Hi, MikeD here> I just finished building several acrylic tanks to house and breed (hopefully) a few species of Plecos (L169, L114, L271, and L081).  Today, while reading an article on Planet Catfish, it read that zebra Plecos will scratch acrylic tanks up so bad you can't see through them.  Have you ever had a place scratch an acrylic tank or heard from a reputable source that they do?<Yes. Plecostomus catfish all have teeth set up in various arrangements around their mouth in the center of the sucking lips. They use these teeth to scrape plant matter from the rocks and substrate, but have even been seen scavenging on dead fish, where they busily rasp away at the flesh for a meat dinner.  In most cases, it takes a considerable amount of time for the damage to show on the acrylic unless you have very large specimens.>  I was hoping to getting them in their new homes as soon as possible, but I don't want to have them destroy all my hard work. <That's a definite possibility here, even a probability with larger animals.>  Thanks for you time.<Sorry I couldn't give you a better answer.> - Jason Seymour

Zebra Pleco  Hello  I found a page you did on the internet about Plecos and was wondering if you had the time to answer a quick question. I am interested in getting a zebra Pleco or two. I've been doing a lot of research on the fish and have read a lot of contradictory info. on the pH range that is acceptable for them. My question is this, what pH range can they tolerate?  <Let's see, how to put this... The wild-collected ones display a smaller tolerance and prefer lower pHs... like 6.5-6.8... Captive bred and reared ones have wider tolerance and a bit higher pH is okay with them... up to the low 7.'s...> I live in upstate NY and the water is relatively hard and alkaline (I have a few gold nuggets in a large tank where the pH is 7.6 and they are thriving and was wondering if they zebras could live in this or if I would have to take special care to lower the pH for them).  Thank-you  Jerry <I would lower the pH for the new specimens initially... with organic acids preferably... and a keen understanding and steady eye on an acidity/alkalinity test kit as well as pH... Zebra's are generally much less "touchy" than Gold Nuggets... so, if you're doing well with them... For all, if I were interested in breeding these small Loricariid species, I would pre-prepare water (likely reverse osmosis, then peat moss in a stocking/filter bag...) to use for make up, changes... Be chatting. Bob Fenner>