When can I get a pleco?
 

How long should I have my tank set up before I add a pleco? I know they don't do so well in new tanks, and I'm closing in on the end of my third week here. I'm guessing now is probably too soon, but it would be nice to have a timeline. Anyone know?

What sort of pleco are you looking to get? I added my ancistrus plecos roughly 8 weeks after my tank had completed cycling with no problems.

I'm not sure. One that stays pretty small. I was reading about different kinds in a different thread, but I don't remember which one.

bristlenose pleco is one that stays small, they should be added maybe 1 or 2 months when the tank has finished cycling and is starting to grow green algae. Most plecs are best added at this time.

I have never heard of this concept.

I cycled my tank by employing, in part, 6 gold nuggets with no adverse effects noted to date (11 months subsequent).

TR

well at my lfs i once asked if i want a pleco when should i get it, they said what i said before since most are algae eaters. But ive never kept a pleco before so maybe your right (this place was my trustworthy lfs)

IIRC Gold Nuggets aren't real big algae eaters - more like sucking worms out of the substrate and off rocks and the like (Could be wrong - never felt like spending $40 on one). I know one of the very first fish I got to start the first 10 gallon tank that started me on the path to rampant multiple Tank Syndrome was a Clown Pleco, and I basically cycled the tank with him. Not smart, mind you, but he did survive. Course, he was never diddly for algae eating either.

Frankly with Plecos, it doesn't really matter. Ottos, on the other hand, you had best have something in an Algae growing for them to eat, or there will be some dyin'.

I've heard the same thing. Otos are pretty sensitive, but plecos are hardy. I feed my pleco algae wafers...

Just for the record, I wouldn't add any fish, regardless of hardiness, to a tank that hasn't finished cycling, as your cycle will only regress. Wait until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, a low reading of nitrates. Then do your first water change of your cycled tank to make sure it stays that way. I wouldn't base it on a time line. My tank took 2 weeks to cycle, my large tank a little longer, and I've heard some take a few months to be done.