Common Pleco Laying Eggs

[leish737]

I have a common pleco which has started laying eggs. I have no male pleco though, just two oscars. We noticed the eggs under her belly about 4 days ago and they have been there since. It seems like they have to started to get "old", and there is a fuzzy layer around them almost fungus like i dont know if they are going bad or not. But they are still stuck on her and i dont know what i should do. Any information or suggestions would be helpful!

Heres the first pic i took of it i havent been able to get one of the more recent fuzziness:

 

[judcoynehunter]

i had a female pl*c do the same thing i had to remove the eggs myself as they were not ferilized and started as yours have to go bad its not good for the tank imo id get rid of the eggs

 

[leish737]

Yeah thats what i figured but i didnt know how to go about doing it without hurting the pleco. Just slowly move them off of her?

 

[judcoynehunter]

Yeah thats what i figured but i didnt know how to go about doing it without hurting the pleco. Just slowly move them off of her?

have you touched your plec if not then watch out for the spines near her gills grap her in a net (mine was tame so it was easy) hold her at the head with one hand and rub the eggs off you will not hurt her after you have done this put her back in the tank and leave the lights off till the morning

 

[leish737]

Ok, we just brushed some of them off they were really stuck on there though! Mine wasn't tame at all, she gave a good fight! There is still a little on her that i cant get off because she was getting pretty mad and it looks red under her belly and on the end of her tail and fins almost like she were bleeding. She is still really fat though.

 

[judcoynehunter]

Ok, we just brushed some of them off they were really stuck on there though! Mine wasn't tame at all, she gave a good fight! There is still a little on her that i cant get off because she was getting pretty mad and it looks red under her belly and on the end of her tail and fins almost like she were bleeding. She is still really fat though.

what did you use to get them off with ??

i used a basting brush
she has prob still got a lot of roe inside so she will prob lay more eggs if you could get a male and a spare tank then you could have fry

i sold my pl*c to a fish farm close to me that was breeding the common pl*c

i hope that she was not too stressed by the experience please post a pic so i can see if she is alright

 

[leish737]

well i came home from work today and she has died i dunno what happened

 

[judcoynehunter]

well i came home from work today and she has died i dunno what happened

im sorry to hear this mybee she had gotten too stressed when handleing her

are you going to get another plec to replace her

 

[leish737]

Someone on the other forum i go to said that he heard of females dying like that when they are carrying because there is no male and the eggs inside of her end up going bad and killing her, im not sure though. I would like to get a new one, i have two oscars also who are like 8 inches so i would have to get a fairly good size one so the oscars wouldnt eat it. I dont know where to find one thats fairly big.

 

[judcoynehunter]

oh right i sold mine after she had laid so mybee the pressence of a male saved her

i have just bought a 6" plec for £7.50 from lfs there were loads more that plp had broughtin ranging from 6"-12"(£20) so id look round your lfs and see if you pick a new one up it should not be too hard good luck

 

[leish737]

Yah i'll have to just keep looking around to see if i can find one. I'd like to get a new one. Thanks guys for all your help.