An articulate fish keeper sharing his knowledge and fish keeping. The David Attenborough of Plecos. Here, here!
Had the pleasure of meeting Julian today in my local aquatics shop, really nice chap and hopefully Mick can do an update on his fish room a year on. He’s inspired me and my 8 year old son to keep plecos 👍🏻
Thank you for your comment it’s amazing to see how knowledgeable your young son was on the pleco names and clearly he was very interested in learning more! I was completely humbled to meet you both and you guys continue to inspire me to keep going forward. Thanks again🤜🤛
@@lda1054love your setup, do you use any filtration or RO for your water change system?
Hope Mick goes back soon for a catch up on what's new. Great fishroom and guy!
What a great fish house Julian has! When I was about 6 or 7 my older brother and I had a tank with just a few guppies. One day he took me to see a friend of his who had a fish house. It wasn't much more than a garden shed crammed with small tanks, but after 50 years I still vividly remember the warmth, the humidity, and the bubbling filters. Julian hit the nail on the head when he said "Little tanks with little worlds in them" - that's exactly what I thought back then in that fish house. I've been hooked ever since.
Thanks Derek! When I started keeping fish in 86 it was the most powerful memory as a young fish keeper walking in to a fish shop and just being immersed in a whole new world 😁 Thanks
best 50 mins in my day
Robert thanks bro still I’m amazed at the great and positive response. Peace! 👍
Great video mick, I love the way he pulled his tanks apart so we could see all his fish.
Top bloke for doing that 👍🏻
Thanks Bob I really appreciate it 🙂. It was totally worth it to show good people like yourself who would appreciate it! As usual Mick brings out the best in people when he's filming.
What a great video. Bottomfish-type keepers sometime have a reputation for being more reserved than say, cichlid keepers, but Julian was absolutely thrilled to share all his fish and tanks and strategies on video. Amazing L024s and L025s. Tons of knowledge and passion there. Excited that you've gotten so much interest in fish room and store videos, amazing job as always.
Too kind sconners7🙂 if I have the passion and you saw it then I guess you got the passion too! Peace!
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen about Plecos! This guy knows his stuff!
Thanks Steve much appreciated 🙂. Lots of big mistakes along the way but we're getting there!
Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Great to see big plecos in large tanks as they rightfully should be. I respect the time and effort put into raising these beauties. Keep up the great work. Thank you for sharing Mick. Please do more pleco tours.
I bought a group of 4 l134 plecos recently from trop co at 5cm. They are doing good so far :)
Good job Zander. Just watch them as they grow and make sure you keep a eye out for aggressive behaviour. They can really do damage to each other when they breed!
I love all my fish, I've got two tanks full of community fish guppies, loaches,corys,gourami,
tetras,and loads of plecos. When I finish work and do my daily tanks tasks, then sit down and watch them all. Its like a city waking up. Love it
@@MicksFishUk No it's only a 90l and a 200l in a Grandma's house in Birmingham LOL 😂 just love my 🐠 . Thanks for thinking of me though
Wonderful tour and collection. Thanks for sharing 👍
The man the legend...Tom from TMAquatics I watch your work bro you are dedicated! I'm truly humbled! Thanks so much for all your work for this hobby 🙂
Yes about time we see some more zebra pleco on this channel good video Mick keep em coming
Regarding sponge filter in a shop you have to remember that the shop is constantly changing water when taking fish in and out of the tanks, you can also consider under gravel filter for a 3/4 ft tank which worked well back in the day before modern filters and still does. And the fish looked amazing mate, awesome tour 👍
Yes, please!! Make a stand with smaller tanks. It is cool to watch your big tanks, but my house would collapse if I got one of those. Smaller tanks (and smaller fish) are more relatable for me.
“I’m not a nutter, I’m not on my own” 😂😂
Glad my pleco obsession is shared! Great video Mick
Wow, fish room in the UK is not for the weak.. the heating bills.. wow.. but looks epic! thanks for sharing.
Easy Bettas you are right. Since filming the price has risen significantly. We will continue ! Thanks so much for your comment 👍
Wow I’ve never seen anything like this. Plecs on steroids so to speak 😂 keep up the great hobby / work Julian. I am truly humbled…..
Someone said to me many years ago the type of fish you keep says a lot about the person you are, I laughed at the time but now I think there’s something in it !
Love this. Thank you. What a brilliant video. I'm obsessed with Plecos.
Really enjoyed this video, so much so I've watched it 4 times lol. I use to keep loads of cats , especially pseudacanthicus species some 25 years ago and have some real beauties back in the day. L25 has always been my favourite species by far.
After a 6 year gap from keeping and breeding fish I'm now back.
Watching and listening to this video is very enspiring.
I have some 15 cats at the moment, mostly pseudacanthicus, ( I need more lol )
Can relate to the 5x3x2 tank as I had 2, 5x3x2's and a 6x3x2 which I use to breed my stingrays in...back in the day when they were alot rarer and harder to breed then they are today, great size tanks.
Many thanks for sharing your collection with us and keep up the great work👍🏻
Lee.
Your exactly the reason why Mick does what he does! I’m glad your back in! And glad you enjoy it. I definitely enjoyed it once I got over the fear of being on the internet! I just wanted to share and not hold back mate. So thank you Lee and keep us updated. I’m hoping more Uk fish keepers come forward to Mick and we can encourage each other. Much appreciated 👍
Such a great voice and an amazing collection. 👏 thank you for sharing the wisdom.👍
Faheem your very kind. Thanks for your consideration and comment. It always will encourage me and others 🙂
US here so I don't know the liter equivalent but I run everything 55g up to 200g on 4 sponges with 50% water changes biweekly without issue but this is an amazing collection a monster pleco keepers dream
Loved the detailed walk through of all the fish and helpful tips, great video and great fish room
Love the video Mick, I think that this guy has done a fantastic job with the fish room.
Excellent video, Julians clearly very knowledgeable and is really good at narrating the vid, i absolutely agree with his comments about the L114 they`re one of the most outgoung plecos there is i have one in a 7ft tank and he`s always the first fish you see when you walk into the room usually swimming up and down the tank in front of you.
Nice one Mick
Thanks Tyke. I really appreciate your comments.🙂 Hopefully we can get a chance to see some active 114s doing there thing in the near future. Hopefully my buddy Steve will step up and show the good folks some special giants and the most active spinosus!
Really enjoyed this video , and loved the size of the 5 by 3 fish tanks im on the hunt for one now and my god them fish were unreal , what a top bloke doing what he loves and doing it well 👌🏻👏🏻
Hi Daniel thanks for your encouragement. Yes your right the width is so important with some species and I hope you get a good tank 🙂
A hobbyist through and through. Wonderful to see all these species together. I myself have always kept it with the regular black pleco for the past 40 years 😁.
Been looking forward to this one and it definitely didn't disappoint. Great video as always Mick 👏👏👍
I know I’m way late but I love this guy’s excitement when he talks about his beautiful collection! Hard not to get excited when he talks about his fish!
Breathtaking.
This is the feeling I got when I first see the power of the cactus pleco and the beauty of the zebra. Thanks
I find plecos rather boring and I do tend to skip through your longer videos but this guy had me hooked he’s very knowledgable. The thing about the different eyes effecting the light intensity was really interesting and makes perfect sense.
Thanks Karl. From what I understand the fisherman has difficulty with visibility in the collection area for L25 so I assume the depth and the dark will account for the hooded iris.
*I've never fancied plecos until now. Those are some amazing specimens that I didn't even know existed.*
The hobby became turbo charged in the late 80s and 90s with the discovery of a great variety of these species and thanks to the hard work of the collectors in Brazil 🇧🇷 we can enjoy them 👍 Thank you 👍
I have around 550 plecos in British columbia Canada 🇨🇦 cheers
Keep up the good work Nic and please share your collection with us cheers to you and your Canada pleco family 👍
Im a bit late to the party, but really enjoyed this! A great collection and really well presented Julian... a pleasure to watch 👍👍
Mark I was late to the party!!! I should have done it years ago😆 Thank you for watching and let’s keep it old school👍
Love that fish house and the passion,have x 30 macrostoma at the moment and big goldfish set up.
Thanks very much. I’ve just seen your goldfish videos. Thanks to Mick we’re getting connected better! 👍
Great vid mate and what a nice guy you went to see
Your so welcome my friend its nice to watch people that have such a passion for what they do
Great video!! i have recently found a love for Pleco's!! I just bought a 135 gallon tank for my African Cichlids and came across a large ( 8 inches or so) sail fin that is just beautiful. Also have a Bristle Nose and just got a Green Phantom that is just beautiful!
Thanks Scott plecos are really special I’m glad you are discovering them and enjoying keeping them 👍
that plecos is massive and stunning peacefull im from south africa i love the big tanks i can just imagin what a hell of a job it becomes if the filtration cant keep up...today i did a upgrade on a air pump im just a beginer i have 3 small tanks and 5 species including plecos i hope to learn more..
That guys is the alien from neibo😂hood watch lol 😂
I don’t know about the alien but I think it’s a good thing 😆 peace out and take me to your leader😂🫵👍
My dad has a common pleco that is at least 17 years old. It was left behind by the previous tenants in the basement of an apartment that we rented, in a couple inches of black water.
They are incredibly resilient I’m glad it’s hopefully living a good life now 👍 Thanks
Brilliant - would love to have seen some Royales and Serratus though. In my experience they don't get on with others.
I Love My Royal Panaque Pleco's and My Vampire Pleco's They are The Bomb.
Hi Charles I did keep some Gold vampires a while back as a group but the aggression was severe due to the advanced dentition they possess so I had to abandon the program.👍
Those zebras are lovely
Thank you Kelly. Zebra are very special to me as they got me into all the others ! It's great when you can get into one part of the hobby as there is so much to learn and experience in each area
Some amazing plecos, iv had an albino bristlenose for 2 years, barely ever saw him. 2 days ago I added an L200 green phantom. They had a rocky start but they are currently happily sharing the same cave. There is 6 caves all separated away from each other, but they have chosen to share the same one.
Thanks James great to hear that you have put plenty caves in. That way they have a choice and if they want they can get away from each other 👍
Had to watch this video again haha the guys got so much knowledge on plecos would subscribe to his channel if he had one on plecos
Thanks James that’s very kind. I haven’t got a channel but mick will come back next year and we will run through some more material and observe the changes. Thanks again for your encouragement and I really appreciate it! 👍
Thanks for this informative video, very fascinating how high level it gets fish keeping! I absolutely adore your tanks, I have a common pleco myself and he never had tank mates, in this case what would you recomend for his companion? Thanks alot!
This guy is amazing
Thanks Luke the fish are the real stars! We’re just fortunate to keep them 🙂much appreciated!
@@lda1054 your knowledge is amazing! I love plecos but the Mrs always says you can’t see them most the time but they’re beautiful, you should make some more videos on them!
😂 Well your Mrs makes a good point! They do hide well but it’s great to see there progress when they do come out. Some fish keepers design there tanks with structures that allow more viewing for the aquarist but give the fish some cover. I use the pipes because I feel they prefer the enclosed space.👍
What was the tip about mussels?
Hey mate check out a video I posted about 6 months ago. It’s called martins pleco room it’s all on there mate
A Dream ❤️❤️❤️
It can be done! I hope you enjoyed the video. I’ll be planning another one soon
talking about the iris, how low lightening yet his tanks are very bright
Yes Adam I understand your point. The light is on for the video but normally off unless for maintenance. Also the pipes allow for the fish to enjoy the dark. Hope this clarifies 👍
This guy was great...
I’m just giving back to the hobby and I hope that others will do the same ! With each other we can grow and make it better by sharing knowledge and understanding 👍 thanking you so much!
What a video and such a nice guy. Has he got an Instagram or UA-cam channel Mick ?
I love the red titanic
Ghost sniper I always felt that the titanic was the most underrated Cactus pleco. From the nose they are plain but as you travel to the tail they look like they have a amazing paint job!🤩
Was the fish room insulated at all ? He had some nice fish im there like. I liked his scobinancistrus L082
Thank you! Yes it's 4" all round. My mistake was not insulating the concrete floor but....it's too late 🙂. Yes I also like the L82. I'm looking forward to seeing the younger ones pattern development
Hello, where did you get from that large ceramic tubes /caves please?
Hey they are ceramic pipes that are used for drainage on houses you can get them from builders merchants thanks for watching
Do you know where to find those huge clay tunnels? I’ve been inspired
Hi Vinny
I order them from a builders merchants in 4 or 6 inch diameter. You will need an angle grinder with a stone cutting disk to cut them in to sections. Thanks
A question for everyone. I have 2 cactus 🌵 Plecos an L24 and a Polka Dot who is 7 inches. If feeding normal prawns cooked or raw? Does it matter, Thanks
Hey mate awesome fish. I use raw peeled prawns mate fish go crazy for them 👍🏻👍🏻
This is an amazing video! Mick can you point me in the direction of the information about the mussels, I feed my own typhoons these and I'm wondering if there's a reason I shouldn't? Cheers 🙂
Hey mate thanks for watching mate. I put a video up about 6 months ago. It’s was all about a another impressive pleco room. It was called martins pleco room. Check it out all the information is on there mate he shows you a muscle and how to do it. Another very good video to watch if you love your plecos mate 👍🏻
@@MicksFishUk perfect thanks Mick! Keep up the good work these videos are amazing.
Hi Mark. I just found that the dark material in mussels can bind up in the intestine. By all means feed mussels whole to the big fish but the smaller ones I'll just give them prawn, pellets and if I feed mussels I'll just give them the orange bit and cut out the rind and the dark material
@@lda1055 Hello. Thanks for your reply. That makes perfect sense. I suppose I've been lucky that I've not had any problems but I'll definitely be removing that part of the mussel now before feeding my typhoons. I will stick to vitalis pellets and prawns. I don't know if you have ever heard this but I read that feeding too many prawns can have an effect on growth due to some chemical they contain, I would need to try and find the video again but it was from a fairly reliable source. Any ideas about that? I've had some typhoons for the last 5 years or so and have had fairly slow growth but I believe that's normal for this type of plec.
Hi Mark. I feed King Tiger prawn as I find the smaller pink prawn goes in the Weir too fast or gets stuck on the intakes of the externals I get a good feeding response from all the plecs on the larger King Tiger prawn. I scissor it up for the smaller ones. I've always assumed that the slow growth rate is related to a long life span.
Mick I need help getting a bigger tank
What was the advise on feeding mussels as not heard what he said before
Check out martins pleco room I put the video up about 6 months ago mate he explains everything on there 👍🏻
@@MicksFishUk thanks will have to go back and try and find the video as now getting in pleco and don’t want to be harming them with mussels
Hi Matt. Yes Martin will explain. I found the dark material inside and the rubbery rind to be a problem for the small ones. Big plecos...no problems 🙂
Can you put the link back up again for the filter floss you use please mick
Stunning fish but one thing that puts me off spending money on some special plecos is how much they hide. I like to see my fish out and about.
Sure Matt I understand! The L25 are very secretive but the typhoon are always out and about. The more settled the fish are the more we see of them!👍
How do get on with winter temperatures?
Room temperature drops to 24 c and the heaters click on more frequently. The electric usage is more pronounced in winter but in summer it’s great 😀
Anybody know about this?..
Regarding the piece of wood; is that horse chestnut or sweet chestnut? Or does it not even matter?
Hi Sam thanks for your question about the wood. Yes it's sweet chestnut. I wouldn't use horse chestnut as it's a lot softer. The best wood comes from the old coppice stools that just lift out of the ground as they are so old.
what did he mean when he was talking about feeding mussels?
Sure I’ll shed some light on this… so inside the mussels is a hard section of hair which can stick inside the gut of the pleco especially the small ones. I think it’s important to remove this with scissors ✂️ so you know that it’s a lot safer for them . Gut blockage can be fatal and it’s happened to one of my small pleco. Fortunately I noticed it and isolated the fish and starved it while raising the temperature. Also massage the belly to help move the blockage but 🙏 be gentle. Hopefully this helps 👍
15 mins in and my over arching comment is the fella who owns all of these tanks/fish is an excellent narrator, very articulate and properly knowledgeable. Makes things so much more engaging. Proper kudos to the chap and his fish.
I think you were the first comment. I really appreciate it very kind. Thanks
@@lda1055hey mate just wondering where you get the caves for your large pleco's I have some cactus plecs I've had since they were 5cm and now they are over 9 inches and I can't seem to find anything suitable for them. If you have any suggestions I would really appreciate it, thanks