Sitemaps

Cold water to tropical fish tank2007-11-24 23:11:03

I have a cold water fish tank which currently has a goldfish and a silver oar. I added Pleco but have been told that Plecos can't be in cold water and he has lots of white like scales on him now. What can I do?

Can I buy a normal heater and add it and will the other fish die now? I can't find anyone to take the pleco and I don't want him to die. But I can't afford to run two tanks either.

Help!

Answers:

Hi Sam, The problem associated with mixing Goldfish & Plecos isn't so much to do with the difference in water temperature as Goldies are pretty liberal with that. The real danger of adding almost any kind of bottom feeder/Pleco/catfish etc in with Goldies is they often get a taste for the Goldfishes slime coats & being as they are nocturnal fish neither you nor your Goldfish will notice the damage being done until it is well advanced.

I would strongly suggest that as you can't get another tank for him that you return the Pleco to the store.

---

i have a pitbul pleco in my coldwater tank and its doing just fine. though the water temp is in the mid 70's due to the summer heat and my never cooled apartment. you could try a little heat, try to raise it maybe 5 degrees at the most. i dont know about the white scales though, it may be diseased...

---

adding a heater @ about 70 to 85 degrees won't bother the cold water fish so go ahead. Your pleco is probably showing his dislike of the cold water and will probably clear up once the temp goes up a bit.

---

good for you and good luck great question by the way