With a number of photographs and videos of albino chocolate plecos going viral on social media recently, we have noticed a spike in the number of questions that we have been seeing from the community relating to keeping albino chocolate plecos.
Although it is rare that you will see albino chocolate plecos for sale due to collectors usually buying them directly from the breeders prior to a listing, you may find them for sale every now and then if you are lucky.
We have collected the four main questions about albino chocolate plecos that we have seen people asking from the fish keeping community and decided to answer them in this article.
Our hope is that we will be able to help any of our readers who are considering getting themselves a albino chocolate pleco and help you take better care of your fish.
Please note, an albino chocolate pleco may not be a suitable fish for you and your aquarium setup. We have lost count of the number of people looking into getting an albino chocolate pleco due to their unique look when their aquarium setup is simply not suitable for the fish.
With any luck, our article will also be able to help prevent any issues like that from occurring too.
Albino Chocolate Pleco Tank Size!
The minimum recommended tank size for an albino chocolate pleco is 20 gallons with it ideally being a long tank rather than a high tank.
The largest the tank the better though with a 30 gallon tank or more being ideal as a 20 gallon tank really is the recommended minimum for the fish.
Unfortunately, some people offer large amounts of money for their baby albino chocolate plecos without realising just how large these fish can grow.
Thankfully, you are usually able to pick up a decent 20 gallon long aquarium cheap these days. This allows you to pick up a tank that meets the minimum requirements of the fish without having to break the bank.
If possible though, you really should be trying to get a 30 or 40 gallon tank for your albino chocolate pleco for it to liv comfortably as an adult.
There are some great 40 gallon tank options on the market these days that really aren’t as expensive as most people think either letting you get an excellent tank that an adult albino chocolate pleco will feel at home in.
Recomended Albino Chocolate Pleco Diet!
Albino chocolate plecos are herbivores and will eat large amounts of the algae from your aquarium without you having to actively feed them.
Some people will supplement the diets of their albino chocolate plecos with algae wafers, zucchini, and cucumber with most plecos enjoying the variety of these additional foods.
The quickest, easiest, and cheapest supplementary food that you are able to give your albino chocolate pleco is a high-quality algae wafer.
They are readily available, cheap, and come ready to go so you just add the wafer to your aquarium and let your albino chocolate pleco eat it as it desires.
When it comes to adding zucchini or cucumber to your plecos diet, zucchini does defiantly seem like the more popular food over cucumber. It is usually recommended that you microwave the zucchini for 30-60 seconds to break the cells and allow it to sink easily.
After microwaving the zucchini, let it cool back to room temperature and then add it to your plecos tank as a treat food.
Full Grown Adult Albino Chocolate Pleco Size!
An adult albino chocolate pleco can grow to be anywhere from ten to twenty inches in length depending on factors such as its tank size, diet, and water parameters.
This is usually larger than many people initially think and is the main reason that we see people having to upgrade their aquariums once their pleco reaches adulthood.
Following the one inch of fish per gallon in the aquarium rule, you may think that you could get away with a 10 gallon tank due to some adult albino chocolate plecos maxing out at ten inches but you should always be going for a minimum of a 20 gallon long aquarium.
This will cover the size requirements for the pleco if it does grow to its maximum 20 inch length without you having to upgrade your tank again in the future.
Due to plecos being bottom dwellers, they tend not to care about the other fish in the tank so you can usually add them to a community tank without issue. If you can though, try to go with a 30 or even 40 gallon tank if possible.
This will give your albino chocolate pleco plenty of space to feel happy and comfortable in its tank when fully grown.
Suitable Albino Chocolate Pleco Tank Mates!
Albino chocolate plecos do well with most upper water tank mates with danios being a very popular option. They also tend to do very well with most mid-water tank mates too such as tiger barbs, most types of cichlids, and all livebearers.
Some people will also try to integrate other bottom-dwelling tank mates into their albino chocolate plecos tank too such as other cat fish, knife fish, and loaches but we wouldn’t recommend this unless you have a larger tank.
You really are using up the bulk of the available bottom space in your aquarium with an albino chocolate pleco if your tank is 20-40 gallons and other bottom dwellers will usually make the tank unsuitable due to taking up too much size.
You can get mixed results by adding snails and shrimp to the tank of an albino chocolate pleco but the majority of the time, the fish will simply eat the snails and shrimp even though it is a herbivore.
You can usually get away with adding any of the upper and mid-water tank mates to a tank with your pleco but if you are wanting to add other bottom dwellers, you really do need a 50 or even 60 gallon tank depending on its length.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the albino chocolate pleco to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the fish by answering the most commonly asked questions we see from the community about the albino chocolate pleco. Although they are a great fish, they do usually need some investment for a larger tank so they are often not suitable for anyone on a budget or who is new to fish keeping as they will often grow much larger than you initially think.
