The bulco is a bottom feeding/algae feeding fish commonly obtained for freshwater ponds originally from South America.
They are those “popsicle fish”.
Plecos prefer warm water and are self-sufficient.
They eat the green algae in the tank and excess food from the bottom that other fish can’t or won’t.
They clean when you don’t want to.
One of the girls at the pet store loved them, and one hated them.
Why?
Well the girl who loved them loved them for all of the reasons I mentioned above plus they’re laid back…they’ll find a little crevice or hiding spot during the day and relax. Then they come out at night and clean/eat, but keep to themselves.
The girl who hated them found that they grew very fast and “when they poop, the pieces are long and stringy and float around the tank”.
The first girl never felt like she had such a problem with her device at home.
Personally, I came home contemplating these dilemmas, as I prepared for a week-and-a-half trip away from home.
What did you do?
I got one very small one, the smallest one I could find, to help clean out the tank while I was away.
Apparently, my mom says the tank looks clean…even though I only have one fish in the 10-gallon tank.
* By the way: Pleco did a great job… no algae on site after 1.5 weeks! We called him Mr. Clean – yeah, another “K”… LOL!
Loaches, also bottom feeders, are an option, but they seem to disturb the other fish in the tank, from my observations…they never stop moving. It is an “Old World” freshwater fish coming from riparian environments throughout Morocco and Eurasia.
by Kimberly Edwards
