How to Breed Pleco Fish

Purchase a single adult male and up to five adult females. This colony method insures that at least one of the females will be in spawning condition when conditions are right for breeding. Examine the heads of your plecostomus to determine sex. Male fish have many depressions and peaks on their heads, while the head of the female fish lacks detail and appears to be quite smooth.

Examine the vent of your fish if you want to confirm that you have sexed it correctly using facial features. Mature females have a rounded vent; a flap of muscle that lies over the male's vent.

Condition your breeding fish with zucchini, cucumber, green beans, sweet potatoes and kale. Feed a high quality sinking spirulina pellet or wafer as part of the basic diet. Good quality commercial diets are well balanced and are fortified with vitamins. Offer small quantities of live food, such as bloodworms, as a number of plecostomus species also feed on animal protein in the wild.

Place a number of pieces of soft driftwood into the aquarium. The diet of many plecostumas species is made up of wood under natural conditions. These catfish possess bacteria which break down the lignin in wood, which they feed on regularly in the wild.

Build a spawning cave out of rocks for the fish. This cave should be just slightly higher than the dorsal or top fin of the male fish. The spawning cave should be one-and-a-half times the length of your breeding male.

Rinse or replace the mechanical filter material in your external filter on a weekly basis to ensure optimal water quality.

Replace 30 percent of the water after three to four weeks of placing the plecostumus into the aquarium. Use water which is soft and slightly acidic. Use a dip-and-read pH test kit to test your replacement water and add a commercial pH agent to lower the pH to 6.5, if necessary. Use water that is about 77 degrees F, a few degrees colder than the aquarium water, which should be in the region of 80 degrees F.

Increase the amount of food slightly at this point.

Place a small power head into the aquarium and direct the outflow toward the cave.

Observe one of the females showing interest in the male. This female will be attracted to the spawning cave, where she will lay her eggs. The male will subsequently fertilize the eggs and remain with them.

Wait for the eggs to hatch between four and eight days after being laid.

Feed newly hatched brine shrimp to your fry as soon as they become free swimming, which will be four to six days after hatching. Plecostomus fry will begin to feed on algae, driftwood and sinking pellets.