Pleco fight

[Negseven]

Just saw my super red bristlenose (female I think) and chubby pleco (not sure of sex) fighting for the first time, can they damage each other? Is it just a dominance thing or to do with area. They are quite small and tank is 33 gallon, has lots of plants and wood to hide in….

 

[jaylach]

Can you post a photo of the tank and fish? Do you have cave systems setup? While plants and wood are good for plecos it does not do the same as caves as to allowing them to setup their own territory. Plecos tend to be territorial and want their own area.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

They cannot breed with each other if a M and FM, so I would agree it is likely territorial. Get a couple of caves and place them at close to opposite ends of the tank. They may have been fighting over food as they do have somewhat similar diets. The chubby will like more meat and the BN more algae/veggies but they are basically ombivores as the bn is also eating the critters that live in the algae.

The chubby will get c;learly bigger than the BN. So hiding places will be helpfull down the road. Plecos like tight places, so the chubby will be needing a larger cave than the BN in the long run.

edited for typos

 

[threecharacters]

The Chubby comes from rocky rapids on the Rio Tocantins. You could add some rock work and build some caves. I think rheophilic have a preference for tight caves. It would also probably prefer rapidly moving water.

 

[Negseven]

I put a urn/cave in and the clown loaches all get in it!