RH> just found you and have a major problem I hope you may be able
 RH> to help me with. I have a 48" x 18" x 15 " Juwel with white
 RH> silica sand as a base for planting into. Unfortunately I also
 RH> have a 10" Pleco which seems to revel in disturbing the sand
 RH> and consequently uprooting the plants in his attempts to
 RH> get under everything. I wonder if putting a layer of silica
 RH> sand and then a porous plastic mesh before the final layer of
 RH> silica would help solve this problem. I could then plant into
 RH> the top layer and the roots would hopefully work through the
 RH> mesh into the bottom layer. Any thoughts on this or alternative
 RH> suggestions - I don't really want to lose Pleco as he is such a
 RH> character but..........

just make a section of rocks for the pleco to get under... they love to get
underneath things and especially to sucker attach upside down... i almost
always create a "cave" for my plecos to get under... generally
two rocks standing on end and another flat one across the top of them...


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they'll love you for ever... just make sure you give them room to grow,
also... my last pleco was 18 inches long when i traded him in at the local
pet store... they can get much larger than that, too...

)\/(ark