Companions for your Guppies




My favourite addition to a community tank is catfish, the very shy algae eaters that scoot from dark corner to an even darker hiding place. The catfish live primarily on the bottom of the tank but you will see them moving all-round the tank attached to the glass with the sucker mouths they possess, or moving in a flash through the water. While the catfish I have are pleco’s, they are just one of over 2000 species. The common plecostomus can live a long time, and you have to be aware that these fish can grow quite large.


The breeding habits of the bristle nose pleco are interesting to see. If you have provided a cave or tube like structure for them to hide in or under, you may notice the male “sweeping” or tidying the house. The female appears to attach the eggs to the walls of what ever the adults have elected to use. The egg sacs are noticeable in that they are an orange color. This makes them very noticeable to the fry “eating” guppies. The parents seem to watch the small pleco’s but you will only know they are in your tank when you see the little fish amongst the pebbles and plants in the bottom of the tank. Guppies will eat anything they find so you will need good hiding places to rear any real number of the little pleco.  These are excellent fish to have in a community tank.