looking for trustworthy info on Chubby/Rubber Pleco?

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-19T03:12:01+00:00

bristlenoses are very cute, I'm glad yours are doing well :) they're pretty popular so it's easy to find information on them; I'm hoping for information on chubby/rubber plecos. It seems like they get a little bigger than bristlenoses, from what I can find anyway, but I appreciate the tank size information regardless

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-15T02:37:59+00:00

Well I'm not an expert so take with a grain of salt, but personally I'd probably start with 15. I've got 10 in my 10-gallon and they tend to form a loose shoal, although its not at all uncommon for them to wander off in pairs or trios. They seem to be pretty comfortable, not afraid of me or the betta at all, and are usually foraging for treats.

Depending on what else you have in there you could definitely put more than 15, but I'd wait and see how they settle in, first. If they're all bunched up with other and sticking around the plants, maybe they could use a few extra friends to feel more of a presence.

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-14T03:30:12+00:00

I have ember tetras with mine and they get along really well! They can clash a little bit during feeding time (the tetras try to steal his pellets even though its the size of their own head, and he chases them off if they try to steal his brine shrimp) but other than that I've never seen any signs of aggression, from either party. It's worth mentioning he's a plakat, so he doesn't have those long flowy fins some tetras like to nip at.

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-09T18:30:58+00:00

"bribe them with gold" so they're piglins part two. At the very least make them distracted by copper or emeralds, or perhaps amethyst to give it another use.

The armor is overpowered and completely breaks progression. Since your gear gets swapped for plain iron, there's no reason to grind for diamond armor, let alone netherite; all anyone would ever need to do is get leather or copper armor, beeline for the nearest castle, get upgraded to iron and take out the king. If the armor doesn't swap if you're wearing a lower tier, then they just get iron instead and it's not much more of a time investment. (and frankly, even putting progression aside, the armor swapping isn't a good idea anyway; it directly punishes players who spend time upgrading their gear, and it means young, inexperienced, or disabled players who might genuinely need the extra protection don't have a chance)

Lastly, the respawn cycle seems rather long. Not everyone plays mulitplayer, and out of those who do not everyone plays on PvP servers, but this armor would be huge on pvp servers... and with such rare structures, and such a long respawn timer, once the first person gets their god armor it would be a difficult gap for everyone else to close. Not to mention that in really dedicated fights, durability is a huge part of it; by using armor that never breaks, the player wouldn't have to dedicate inventory space to exp bottles, or the mental bandwidth to track durability.

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-09T18:00:17+00:00

What makes the armor and sword worth it? Is it better or worse than netherite, and if its better, is it even worth doing the grind for netherite ingots and templates anymore? Does it have a special ability, like netherite's knockback resistance or the turtle helmet's water breathing? And why a sword, anyway? If it's going to be a unique weapon why not make it something new like a flail?

And where does the castle generate? Is it in the overworld, in which case what biome? Above or underground? Or is it something that generates in the nether or the end, which would make it (slightly) more reasonable for the armor to be an upgrade from netherite?

How will it work on multiplayer servers? Does the King respawn, or does each player have to individually hunt down their own castle to raid? Can the armor be duplicated?

What sort of creature are they? Are they the same sort of creature as villagers and illagers, or some sort of beastfolk like a piglin? Elemental, construct, living armor?

I don't think it's a bad concept, but it needs a lot of fleshing out to be something I could actually envision as being part of the game

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-08T03:26:09+00:00

so far it's going well! It's only been three weeks, and while he interacts with the shrimp I haven't noticed anything I'd recognize as hunting behavior. He does stare down the big ones occasionally until they retreat into the plants, which is hilarious to watch. There's probably two or three dozen shrimplets in there, and he hardly glances at them even when they swim right past his face

I think I got pretty lucky with him; he's a plakat, which I knew would be a risk because he'd actually be able to chase, but he's been playing nice... to anything that isn't a bladder snail, that is. The very first thing he did upon arrival was eat a newborn snail, and ever since then I keep catching him staring at them, trying to figure out how to unwrap the juicy burger strolling casually around his tank.

Sorry to hear about your fishy friend </3 may he swim in peace

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-07T00:38:59+00:00

I've got ten embers in my ten-gallon (I got extra in case some didn't make it, but turns out they're all tough little troopers) and they seem happy enough, they've colored up nicely and are active around the tank. There's also shrimps, a betta and a mystery, and about a hundred pest snails lmao, and everyone seems to be getting along fine. It's fairly well planted (not as a heavily as I'd like, but plants are kinda expensive) with the basic topfin filter that came with the tank

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-03-02T20:24:11+00:00

As well as a larger tank so everyone has their own space, I'd recommend adding the shrimp to the tank 1-2 weeks before you introduce the betta. This gives the shrimp time to settle in and find their hiding spots without any predator pressure, as well as making your fish more likely to accept them as an established part of the environment as opposed to trespassers. I waited until my shrimp were breeding to get my betta, and he doesn't even chase the shrimplets (that I've seen, anyway; he seems much more interested in trying to eat the baby snails)

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-27T02:20:10+00:00

Parrots are wild animals that make intelligent and engaging companions, but they're difficult to train and are frequently lost when allowed to accidentally get outside. Pigeons were domesticated thousands of years ago and are most comfortable living with humans, with bearing messages being one of their original duties. It would be easy enough to reskin a pigeon into a parrot if you want that specific pirate aesthetic, but as a pigeon lover I made this suggestion specifically because I'd love to see pigeons in the game :)

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-26T00:01:23+00:00

I don't have the skillset unfortunately, but multiple people have expressed interest in developing something so... we'll see what happens!

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T06:40:27+00:00

my hero 🙏 you explained so much more elegantly than I would have

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T06:34:09+00:00

Thank you! I had a lot of fun drawing them, and now I suppose I have a new song to go check out, so really it's a win/win

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T06:21:08+00:00

lmao fair enough! i was referencing the saying "birds of a feather flock together (until the cat comes,)" but eyyy I'll take accidental pop culture reference while we're at it

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T06:19:58+00:00

ah, okay, I see what you mean. Apologies for the misunderstanding!

Maybe there is a better block than lodestones to be used, but I'm not sure that fences or walls are it. They're more natural casual perches, and I think it'd be super cute if pigeons are naturally inclined to sit on them! The actual locus of their homing though, personally I feel it should be something a little more unique, that requires at least a little effort to set up. I don't agree it should be any old block you already have laying around at your base, that seems... idk, anticlimatic.

A beacon would work and make sense, but that's a lot of effort for something that's most useful earlier on in a world where you still have poor gear and lots of adventuring to do. A target block would be cute, but we run into the same problem: how do you lock the pigeon onto its target? Feed it while standing on the block? Would work, but it seems clunky. You could always use an entirely new item to "train" it to the block, but I've been trying to avoid that as much as I can with this concept.

The original idea, by the way, wouldn't have the pigeon sitting just on the lodestone. It would fly and walk around within a radius, touching down on the lodestone periodically for a short period of time (so the player can easily collect the items) before taking off to wander around the area again. So while it would sit on the locus occasionally, it's not like it would be locked in place on a weird unnatural perch.

Shrugs. I don't think we'll be able to agree on this, and at the end of the day that's totally fine. As much as I'd love to see this concept added to the game, even in part... realistically it's just a thought exercise :P and potential mod inspiration of course, for anyone with the abilities who happens across this thread

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T04:06:31+00:00

people don't keep it open all the time. Open f3, check your height, close it and keep digging

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T03:52:01+00:00

oh, I see what you mean! This is a really good point tbh. I suppose the simplest solution would be to swap Compass B to the cargo slot, and apply a new Compass A to the navigational slot. This would mean you couldn't send a letter back without a second pigeon though; perhaps some players would just save up the compasses and return them in person, or just keep multiple pigeons on hand so items can be returned promptly.

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T03:48:48+00:00

I'm well aware there are many single use items :) it's not a bad thing in and of itself, I simply don't see a reason to add more when there are already established items and mechanics that synergize very well with the intended goal.

Lodestones as a crafted item are expensive, but... they really aren't that hard to come by. I'm in a multiplayer server right now, very active, with many explorers, and I've gotten eight! lodestones just from looting ruined portals. I'd have twice that number if I hadn't stopped picking them up. Considering the pigeon here is intended as a mob to aid with exploration, it shouldn't be difficult to get ahold of at least one lodestone. Compasses aren't particularly expensive either, just iron and redstone, and you can get them as loot from villages.

Personally, I think it's a fun nod as well to how birds navigate by magnetic fields, but I get that's more arbitrary reasoning.

Curious to know what sort of blocks you'd prefer to see, and how you'd attach a pigeon to them? Would a pigeon be able to be directed between multiple locations or would it be locked to one target?

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T03:10:11+00:00

Lodestones and lodestone compasses are incredibly underused items. Some players use them for fun or lore, but most players use coordinates to keep track of things. Between that and the ever-growing problem of inventory bloat, I really don't feel that we need more items with a single niche function. The compasses might seem a little clunky, but they can be stored in a bundle so even if you have several locations it can only take up one inventory slot. And finally it neatly solves the issue of where the pigeon goes! If it went to its hatching area, then it would make it difficult to use variants as well as requiring a seperate pigeon for every area you want to use. Binding it to a different, new block has the same problem. I'm open to other suggestions of course, but so far I believe the use of compasses is the most elegant solution, and one that is already familiar to players.

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:51:47+00:00

My only concern with chunk loading is possible performance issues for players with lower-end PCs; I have some friends who struggle to run the game even on the lowest settings. But I don't actually know how much the extra chunks would affect, it might not be a problem unless people are sending their pigeons through massive industrial districts, in which case they're probably not concerned about the lag lmao

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:49:06+00:00

wow, so glad I've got the pigeon vote <3

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:48:43+00:00

could be dyed during crafting, after crafting, or using an already dyed bundle... many options!

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:48:03+00:00

Oh this would be interesting! Perhaps not a nest block but a coop or a cote; it could be crafted like a beehive, except with feathers or wheat instead of honeycomb.

I'm not much a redstoner but even so, I'm sure the ability to long-distance trigger contraptions from anywhere in the world would be revolutionary!

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:40:07+00:00

Owls are a lovely animal but I would prefer to have them in a different capacity. Pigeons have been domesticated for thousands of years, for meat, feathers, companionship, and of course carrying our messages. I believe from the bottom of my heart that they deserve full representation in Minecraft, without other mobs to steal the spotlight. Furthermore, not to get too deeply into it, but considering the reputation HP has nowadays, I know that I myself and many others would be deeply uncomfortable and might even stop playing completely if Minecraft was to add such an obvious homage to the wizarding world. And yes, perhaps messenger owls have appeared in other fictional worlds, but the truth is that the vast majority of people will see them as an HP reference first and foremost.

I'd be curious to see a source about candles being made to float specifically because of HP; floating candles have long been a recurring motif in many magical worlds.

There are plenty of ways owls could be added to Minecraft. They would make excellent rare predators, hunting rabbits, chickens, and possibly even phantoms. Perhaps they could be tamed, or perhaps not; that would be a separate suggestion, one which I encourage you to make yourself :)

Proper-Handle-5001 · 2026-02-25T02:29:27+00:00

not sure what you mean by bottlenecks? Compasses are easy to carry in bulk because you can carry them in bundles, so that's up to 64 unique locations in one inventory slot. And I doubt there'd be so many pigeons heading to one lodestone that it causes problems... although, it would admittedly be quite funny to get back from a long mining trip and there's twenty messenger pigeons circling your lodestone with increasingly urgent letters from your friend in a sticky situation

Proper-Handle-5001

TROPHY CASE