Recently, and against my better judgment, i acquired a common pleco. Another teacher was getting rid of him and it came down to my fish tank, or a certain slow painful death in the tank of another teacher who is stubbornly ignorant about how to keep a fish tank and is killing fish as fast as she keeps dumping them into her cesspool of an aquarium. I took pity on the creature and allowed it into my tank to avoid that fate.

My question is: what is your opinion on plecos? The ropes of pleco poo are revolting, but i have to admit, he's doing a good job on the algae. Also, what do you feed them, and how do you make sure he gets fed? I'm worried that he isn't getting any protein because when the fish get fed, he is hiding somewhere and i doubt any food gets past my cichlids.

i have 4 in my tank and i feed them algae wafers and zuccini they love it. the best time to feed is at night after you turn your light off and are ready for bed. also hi- protein sinking pellets are a great idea as i use them aswell i tend to mix the food up a bit to give them a varied diet

Common plecos don't need a lot of protein the rarer ones like sultan plecos do, you can tell it's eating by how fat the stomach is. Also I've noticed they only poop like twice every three weeks so I clean it before it becomes a nuisance

What kind of pleco do you mean, because in terms of plecos, there are a few considered common.