Pleco..

[YaYgoldFish]

My pleco will sometimes suck on my polypterus senegalus (Gray Bichir). I was wondering if this could harm my bichir since it looks like it annoys th e bichir alot when the pleco is doing this..


By the way, my female convict laid eggs again :ezpi_wink1:

[Fishalicious]

It's a big problem... sometimes a Pleco will get a taste for the slimecoat on other fish and once they discover it it is hard to stop them....

He sucks on the slimecoat of the fish which they need to protect them from infections etc.

Try upping the pleco's food and hope he doesn't start on the other fish...

[jbeining75]

Yeah plecos sucking on a swimming fish usually end up as plecos sucking on a curled fish at the bottom of the tank.

[YaYgoldFish]

Oh god, didnt think it was anything too serious..Lights are officially out in that tank, would droping in a piece of cucumber of sinking shrimp pellet interest the pleco?

[Fishalicious]

Yeah I would definately up the Pleco's food at nightime... make sure he is eating enough so he is not tempted to suck on the slimecoat... it is a common problem with Pleco's & Bichir's together and like I said once the Pleco get's a taste for it it is really bad unfortunately.

The pleco will keep doing it and will leave the Bichir with area's without slimecoat that are then open to any bacteria or infection going.. the pleco can also suck for too long and actually leave red open sores on the Bichir.

Poor Bichir xxxx
I hope the upping the food will help... try to add some protein to it's food as well as this is also a reason they like to suck on slimecoats

[jbeining75]

plecos are nocturnal eaters I would get Hikari algae wafers if they are available and try to get your algae eater to get a taste for them. I load my 4 plecos with Hikari algae wafers and they leave my Oscars and cory cats alone.

[YaYgoldFish]

Well Im going to put in the shrimp pellet tonight, and every other night. But if I ever see the pleco doing it again im probably putting him in the 40g with the turtles and goldfish.

[Fishalicious]

Oh YaYa... so sorry xxxxx One of Pleco's fave fish to suck slimecoat off of are goldfish... just google 'pleco goldfish slimecoat' and you'll see what I mean...

I hope with the extra feeding it will stop ... if not I think you might have to choose between pleco / bichir / goldfish

Sorry xxx

[YaYgoldFish]

I went back to the tank to give the bichir is daily shrimp and decided to put in a pellet for the pleco..The pellet landed next to the pleco who was just resting by himself in a pretty open space. He didn't really go for it. The bichir came next to it to check out the pellet and left after deciding ot leave it. It then went off and found the shimp I had put in and ate all the pieces.

In all this time, the pleco never bothered the bichir.

Maybe I'm really lucky and this was just a one time thing?