teritorial?

[sk8trf69]

are plecos teritorial?

[Drumachine09]

Depending on the size and type of Pleco, they can be extremly docile. I have never heard of a territorial pleco, but someone please correct me if im wrong.

[sk8trf69]

i have a common pleco about 4 inches

[Drumachine09]

They should be compleatly unterritorial. i wouldnt keep it much past 7 inches though, because the amount of cleaning the do is not worth the amount of waste they produce.

[Slinky_Bass]

Some plecos can be very agressive, my marbled sailfin pleco is only about 4 inches now and he gets quite aggro with my fully grown, huge angels and nippy skunks if they get in his space. I did some reading up on them a while ago and found this very interesting site:

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/pleco_myth1.html

Other plecos are quite docile, like the bristlenose and they don't get too big either (around 3 inches or so). Depending on your tank size you might want to rehome your pleco, as drumachine suggested, as the larger they get the messier and more demanding (food-wise) they get too.

[Lady Hobbs]

So is the Chinese Algae eater if you have two in a tank.

[Drumachine09]

Most of the FS around here put all of the same types of fish in one tank, so they have like 15 to 20 in the same tank. Does the large number of fish per tank cut down on the agression factor?

[Slinky_Bass]

I think it does, along with the fact that those fish are very young and most probably recently transported and therefore stressed out. Tanks at the LFS are also usually empty of all decoration, plants, hiding places etc. so those fish have no markers to call their own and get territorial about.

For a number of species it is only when they are in a good environment, with plenty of food and a place to claim as their own territory that you start to see their natural behaviour.

[Drumachine09]

That makes more sense, i think my red finned shark is territorial of one of the caves then, because when something gets near, he nips at them.

[Slinky_Bass]

Sounds like that is the case, but as long as he's not actively chasing and fighting with your other fish it should be fine.

I like it when my fish find 'their space' in my tanks, to me it makes the tanks more like proper fish habitats as opposed to something thats just decorative. I see in your sig that you've got an empty 10 gal, any ideas about what your putting in that one?

[Drumachine09]

I was thinking about moving my current 29 gallon population into the 10 gallon and putting a couple keyholes in the 29.

[jeffs99dime]

keyholes are awesome. i think you should. just me, though. lol