Birchirs With Plecs

[mark7616]

Has anyone ever kept plecs with there birchirs I know people say they could suck the slime coat off of them but has anyone actually kept them together with no problems. The reason I ask is I really want a royal plec to put in my 150g but Ill be putting a delhezi and senegal birchir in there to.

 

[PufferFishRule]

i have 2 royal plecs i love em! they clean the tank up real good...at my lfs here in va ive seen a few comons in with birchirs...but if im not mistaken there was a tad bit of tension between them in the tank...might be diffrent with royals though...but who knows till ya try

 

[jmaster]

hey
i have 2 BN plecs and a royal wiv my 3 birchirs and they hav been fine

 

[aquariagirl1976]

I have a senegal birchir with my common pleco, but the birchir is still young and wouldn't fit in his mouth yet. So far so good tho!

 

[beblondie]

Some species of plecos and other fish seem to have aquire a taste for slimecoat of other fish
SLIMECOAT
Is a mucous created by the continal replacement of glandular cells know in the fishes skin hat produce a glycoprotein which is called mucin.Areas of the amazon where a number of plecos exist there is little in the line of protein based foods.Plecs are very adaptable to feeding on availiable food sources and one is the mucus coating of other fish,There is good evidence of these fish doing this in the wild and plenty of evidence of these fish doing this in captivity.There It really would not be a suprise to find that mucus feeding is a common feeding method in many Loricariidae catfishes.These fish are really not obligate herbivores.
While members of the Ancistrus seem to not to be attracted to slimecoat.The removal of slimecoat is bad enough,but the slimecoat will be replaced fairly quickly the real damage is done by a pleco rasping teeth which can delaminate the sclaes of a bichir leaving it open to a variety of infections-Anne

 

[kubora666]

he didnt ask what a slimecoat was...
and yes ive got 2 albino bichirs one is 6" the otehr 7"
there in with an 9" common plec, and a 7" common plec.
and they get on compeltly fine with my green terror too. they all keep to themselves.

 

[beblondie]

Hmm lets see
I did a fast explaination about slimecoat
I did why they eat slimecoat
I explained the real damage potential
I said some species of pleco are known for this trait

''he didnt ask what a slimecoat was...''
It helps to know why they eat it if you understand what it is

 

[mark7616]

Thanks for the comments I picked up a p.senegalis and a p.palmas today I really like the p.palmas

 

[MojoDex]

i have an ornate 3 senagaelese in with a bristlenose and a royal no problems in over 5 years

 

[nmonks]

I'm going to chime in here and add that when I kept my royal panaque with a bichir, there were no problems. Quite possibly the almost entirely herbivorous Panaque spp. are a safer options compared with the more omnivorous species sold as "common plecs".

Cheers, Neale

i have an ornate 3 senagaelese in with a bristlenose and a royal no problems in over 5 years

 

[mark7616]

Thats goos as I have a royal plec which is part of the panaque family.

 

[kubora666]

"Hmm lets see
I did a fast explaination about slimecoat
I did why they eat slimecoat
I explained the real damage potential
I said some species of pleco are known for this trait"

thanks for the science lesson its not like i have plecs or bichirs, and have had them for a long time...
but whatever, dont take things so personaly jsut trying to save u time in explanation.

 

[beblondie]

I've answered similar questions so often elsewhere its just cut and paste anymore lol

 

[darkchildreborn]

I currently keep over half a dozen bichirs in my main show tank. Palmas x2. Delhezi x4 and endi x2 and theyre in with rhino plecos and butterflies and never once had a problem.

Now im sure different plecos will be affected by other bottom feeders in different ways. But as for rhino plecos. royals. butterflies. hi fin bandeds. red cactus' and green spots. theyre all fine. I can tell u that 100% from experience.