Royal Plec

[Miss Wiggle]

My Royal plec is currently in a 25ish g tank (he's about 3 inches), put him in there until he gets a bit bigger and I'd move him to one of the bigger tanks. I hardly ever see him as he just sits in a little cavey bit on the bogwood all day, spotted him the other day and his top fin (can't remember the names!) is looking quite nipped, he's in with some molly's, danio's, rasbora's, tetra's and a spotty catfish, I think the only thing that could be nipping him is the molly's...... any thoughts on who's the culprit?

So I thought I'd move him to another tank, not sure which would be the most suitable for him at present, I had eventually planned to put him into the biggest tank with my Oscar when he's big enough (yes I know some Oscar's can kill plecs, as I've posted about a billion times my Oscar is soft as anything and doesn't pick on anyone so I don't think it'd be a problem) but I don't think he's big enough yet, so what do you think, the options are

30 ish g
julii cory's
talking catfish
opaline gourami's
rams
dwarf gourami's
dwarf cockatoo cichlids
tanks already pretty fully stocked though, would maybe mean moving the cory's or catfish into the 20g?

other 30ish g
tanaganayikan tank
lamprolugus daffodils
they're soft as anything so wouldn't pick on him but the tank has High PH.... is that OK for a royal?

or the 80g
Oscar (currently 8/9 inches)
Parrot fish (5 inches)
Firemouth (4 inches)
not sure he's big enough to cope with them yet, don't think he'd get picked on but he could probably fit in Oscars mouth so if he got in the way at feeding time it could be a problem?

Or I could just get shot of the molly's or whatever's nipping him.

what would you do?

 

[furryrabbit]

ive never kept mollies but i think the danios are the more likely culprit , little feckers drove me so crazy i brought them back after just a week

 

[jarmado]

i keep mollies and never seen them nipping other fishes fins.
either the danios or the tetras...
just a guess...

 

[Bex]

I have 2 mollies and they regularly fight each other. They don't seem to go for other fish though?

 

[nmonks]

I have a royal plec in with 3 pufferfish as well as various tetras, and it's never been nipped. It's 11 years old and been with mbuna, bichirs, mollies, and all sorts of stuff. Your list of fish sounds very benign. I'd be tempted to leave the catfish where he is for the time being,

Mollies aren't fin-nippers -- they don't have the mouth for it -- but they do (sooner or later) need salty water, so aren't ideal companions for a royal plec, though I have seen a royal plec in slightly brackish water and it seemed to be fine. Rasboras and danios are usually very good community fish. Tetras include some nippers, such as black widows, serpaes, and one or two others (see here).

My royal plec is very tame and comes out to feed in the day. In fact, she expects to be fed then, and becomes rather active around 11 AM when I normally put in a bit of fresh veg for her. The "trick" with royal plecs is to give them fresh food at the same time each day, so they get in the habit of being fed then.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sure I heard molly's were nippers, ah well, must be the danio's then, the tetra's had been in ages with no issues but I've only had the danio's a couple of weeks and now this.

re the salt, I wasn't planning on keeping him in there for ever, just until he's big enough to go onto one of the other tanks.

Cool I'll try that with her veggies, normally I just stick things in for her and the catfish when I put the lights out so they get it without the other fish stealing it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

sure I heard molly's were nippers, ah well, must be the danio's then, the tetra's had been in ages with no issues but I've only had the danio's a couple of weeks and now this.

re the salt, I wasn't planning on keeping him in there for ever, just until he's big enough to go onto one of the other tanks.

Cool I'll try that with her veggies, normally I just stick things in for her and the catfish when I put the lights out so they get it without the other fish stealing it.

Can you post some pics of the damaged part of his fin? Plecs can often obtain tears and rips in their sailfins from being clumsy around the tank, i can see no fish in your tank that actually pose any threat to the plec apart from the "spotty catfish" as we don't know what that could be from that description.
Various fish deseases can also eat away at a fishs fins as well.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i'll try and get some pics to post, it doesn't look eaten away by disease, more torn or nipped, I'll attempt to get some pics later and post them

the catfish was sold to me as a pimelodus pictus, but I looked that up and I don't think he is one, browsed google images for a bit but I can't find anything that's an exact match, this is pretty good for body shape and fins etc, but the colouring is closer to light grey with darker grey/brown spots on fairly spaced out. any help ID'ing him would be great

 

[KathyM]

Synodontis eupterus?

http/www.scotcat.com/factsheets/synodontis_eupterus.html

 

[Miss Wiggle]

similar, the fin's aren't quite as feathered but I think he's got some sort of high fin/ sail fin thing going on, and he doesn't have different patterns on his tail I don't think

 

[Miss Wiggle]

right i got some pics, v poor quality but I didn't have much battery time left on my camera so just snapped a few quickly. this is the fins on my royal, he's hiding behind the filter so it's dark, but you can see the sillouette (sp)

the only one of the spotty catfish that came out half decent was of his face, might be of some help though

 

[nmonks]

How true with Panaque. This quote from Planet Catfish is spot on:

Colouration aside it is probably their unusual shape and utterly graceless movement - akin to a swimming rock - that endear them to many aquarists not usually interested in secretive catfish.

That said, mine has never actually scratched herself seriously. Usually she destroys whatever she swims into, rather than the other way around.

Cheers,

Neale

Can you post some pics of the damaged part of his fin? Plecs can often obtain tears and rips in their sailfins from being clumsy around the tank...

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've seen those types of tears in plec's and other types of large catfishs fins, particually in growing bottom dwelling ones with sailfin type fins, but they are not a result from nipping. They are generally a result from decor in the tank and the fish being clumsy- if there are any caves in the tank you should raise the height of their entrances and ceilings.
Remove any sharp objects in the tank that the fish could bump its top fin into while swimming around as well. Try and create some nice open spaces in the tank particually around any dwellings/caves as catfish in general are very inquisitive and will want to check out all parts of the tank, even if they can be clumsy at times.
They can also get ripped fins from fighting over terotory with other catfish of similar species, but this shouldn't be the case in your tank depending on what your other catfish is.
To heal the fins, just do some regular water changes to make sure water quality is sparkling clean, and add a little Melafix to the water to help prevent secondary infection- the fins should heal in no time if you follow these steps .

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent so it's not nipping then. That's a relief, didn't want to have to part with any of the fish. I'll get on the case with the melafix and water changes, cheers for your help everyone

oh and any more thoughts on ID'ing the catfish still much appreciated

think i might have cracked it, he looks a lot like a cuckoo catfish

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/...s/synomulti.jpg

v quick bit of research and it looks like he might be perfect for ground crew in my tanganayikan tank

 

[McMurray]

excellent so it's not nipping then. That's a relief, didn't want to have to part with any of the fish. I'll get on the case with the melafix and water changes, cheers for your help everyone

oh and any more thoughts on ID'ing the catfish still much appreciated

think i might have cracked it, he looks a lot like a cuckoo catfish

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/...s/synomulti.jpg

v quick bit of research and it looks like he might be perfect for ground crew in my tanganayikan tank

I have read that it could be a result of acidic water that could casue this