Plecos attacking fish?!!!!

[mells]

Hi,

I have 1 bristle nose pleco, and a female common pleco,

Anyway- They lived in a community tank with Guppies, Mollies, Angels, and Neons.

I kept finding that I was constantley losing fish, for example I found a baby angel with its eyes missing.

Then today I found the bristle nose pleco was eating a guppie.

So I moved him to my 4ft tank with the other pleco I have in there, so she can keep him in line.

Anyone else had this expeirence, Im forever doing water tests and observing the dead fish, all I can think of was that it was down to the plecos being hungry.

Strange thing is I feed them alge wafers daily.

Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[wrs]

well they will eat a dead guppy, and gup[pies only live for 6-8 months at best, so i dont think the BN was responsible for the death. Commons though can be mean, my brother has one in hios goldfish tank and attacks the goldfish quite often.

But I wouldnt think the BN was responsible for anything, though even the smallest pleco, the otto, has been known to attack fish.

 

[SirMinion]

Commons love the taste of goldfish slime which is why they sometimes 'attack' them.

It's unlikely that the bristlenose killed the fish but they are scavangers and will happilly make use of any corpses thay find laying around.

 

[wrs]

my plec only attacked the commen one, not the fancey, lol.

But with Angels they may attack them as they are flat and slow, kinda like a pancake for the pleco, but a live swimming one.

 

[willtang3000]

plecos love the slime of angel fish and discus any flat fish basically and they will shread the angels into pieces in the middle of the night I would get them outta there

 

[mells]

Thanks for the above comments, Im just so fed up of losing fish.

I have a 15in Pleco in my 5ftt tank, it lives with coldwater fish, and I find that its really aggressive to the fish at feeding times.

I have moved the two plecos from the tropcal tank to the coldwater tank, they are all getting along fine.

Anyone know about red tail sharks? they look like a loach.

Thanks

Mells

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What and how many fish have you lost so far? How long has the tank been set up for and how big is it? do you know your recent ammonia, nitrate and nitrite stats?

Common and bristlenose plecs will eat the dead bodys of their tank mates but will not kill them and if you are losing more than just angels it is most likely that somthing else is the culprit- the plecs could posibly explain the angels death but certainly not the guppys, i've been keeping a common plec with guppys in a tank of mine for 5months now and never has he attacked a guppy and i know that a common plec attacking them in general is highly unlikely.

 

[Tolak]

I have common & bristlenose plecs in with angels anywhere from pea size to full grown adults. Never had a problem with the plecs bothering the angels. I've seen juvie angels sneak up & nip plecs' dorsal fins on more than one occasion. Adults don't seem to do this, I guess they got smacked by the plec's tail enough times to know better.

Tolak

 

[morgan]

I have a Common Pleco (bought as a Bristlenose but it isn't!). It is about 5 1/2 inches now, it is in with Mollies(of all sizes as they have bred), fancy Guppies and an Apple Snail and a Hillstream Loach (yes I know they are coldwater but they do fine). It has never been aggressive (I have had it about 5 - 6 weeks now). I am going to put it in a 50gal (maybe a 100gal, it depends how generous "Santa" is!)tank later with other tropicals, I am not looking forward to catching it!

 

[bunjiweb]

I have a 6" male Bristlenose that tore the mouth off my 8" Synodontis Angelicus. First time he did it i moved him out into a small tank and treated him to some punishment from my dwarf puffers (j/k). After 2 weeks i put him back into the big tank and to my surprise he did it again!

He is back in the tank with the puffers at the moment but he will probably be the first fish to go into my 6x2x2 tomorrow and will hopefully keep any algae growth under control.

I have heard many stories about male BNs being quite evil when larger, so just make sure you have a tank large enough for it to claim a terratory of some sort.

Ben

 

[Bloo]

I have a Common Pleco (bought as a Bristlenose but it isn't!). It is about 5 1/2 inches now, it is in with Mollies(of all sizes as they have bred), fancy Guppies and an Apple Snail and a Hillstream Loach (yes I know they are coldwater but they do fine). It has never been aggressive (I have had it about 5 - 6 weeks now). I am going to put it in a 50gal (maybe a 100gal, it depends how generous "Santa" is!)tank later with other tropicals, I am not looking forward to catching it!

Are you very sure it's not a female bristlenose (without bristles ?)

 

[Shark_Lover]

nope never had that happen to me before.

6-8 months!?!?! My friend's guppy is WAY older than that!!!

 

[morgan]

Hi Bloozoo2, I had it identified here because I bought it as a BN and it was getting bigger than expected. Everyone who replied thought it was a Common. I posted three pictures as well. It is a very peaceful fish but not unconfident around the other fish(Mollies and Fancy Guppies) when there is food it doesn't back away and the Mollies are very greedy! I wish it was a BN. It only has one bristle each side of it's mouth.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

my male bristlenose is only aggressive towards other bottom dwelling fish (the kribs, other small plecs) but he is VERY aggressive when his territory has been invaded.

i wouldn't blame the bn for the guppies or the angel. i'd personally suspect one or more of the remaining angels. are they all the same size? if not, keep an eye on the biggest ones for aggression.

one way to guess about guppies dying of old age is to look at their body size. guppies seem to grow at a pretty steady rate throughout their lives, so the largest guppies are generally the oldest guppies. my males have white bodies and as they age, the color "solidifies" and becomes less translucent--producing a beautiful cream-colored body.

 

[abstract]

well they will eat a dead guppy, and gup[pies only live for 6-8 months at best

just wanted to point out that this is absolute bull....obviously the most inbred aren't expected to last long supposedly (although many do)....but the average guppy should live 1.5-3 years..... to be telling people that at best buppies live 6-8 months is a straight out lie