Bristle Nose Plec - Agressive...

[kmaisch]

I have a BN Plec that seems to dominate the bottom of the tank. I have seen it creep up and 'pounce' towards the Peppered Catfish (the way a cat does a bird). It doesn't really chase anything around the tank, it just seems to torment the other fish in the tank (mostly the other catfish), but I have even seen it lunge at the Neon Tetra's.

It eats stuff from the bottom of the tank (flaked fish food if any reaches the bottom), as well as the occasional algae wafer. Maybe it wants some meat in its died - should I get some worms or something for it?

Is there any way to calm down an aggressive fish? Maybe there is another type of fish that could keep it in line? (a bigger fish?).

Cheers,
Kim

 

[smithrc]

does it have caves or a tube to hide in?

if its in the open - it'll chase things away from where it wants - if it has a 'home' it'll only defend that

 

[kmaisch]

there is a log (hollow) in the tank, but quite a few fish hang out in there. Maybe I should get a few more hiding spots.

 

[Bloo]

Definitely need some more homes/caves/bogwood hiding spots if you have a number of bottom dwellers.
They all like to have a space and an area to themselves and aggression can be reduced a lot by providing adequate "homes" for them all.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

mine's got all the homes he could want, but he still fights with the pufferfish over food. (he wins too!)