Pleco chasing Angel, help!

[NicJesse]

Hi, i'm new to this forum and to tropical fish as a whole really. We were given our tank and fish about 6 months ago from some friends and so far all has been great.

Just lately one of the pleco's has started climbing quite high up the side of the tank then swimming around and grabbing onto the Angel fish. It seems to be bothering the Angel and it tries to swim away from it and then afterwards spends a bit of time gasping for air at the top of the tank. I'm really worried about the Angel.

Both are reasonable big fish and have lived together in this tank for all the time we've had it and when the people before had it. Not sure how long they had it but i would say a year at least.

The rest of the fish seem fine, there's a red tail black shark, various types of tetra's and a few other pleco's. Probaby 25 fish in total in the tank.

Any healp greatly appreciated.

[lmgiles88]

Welcome to the AC! I guess the first thing to know is, how big is the tank?

[NicJesse]

Hi, it's an Aquastyle 620T, 90 litres/24 gallons.

Just counted all the fish and i have: 1 Angel, 1 red-tail black, 6 neons, 5 congo tetra's, 3 red eye tetra's, 3 big pleco's (including the problem one) and 2 small pleco's. Hope i got the names right!

[Northernguy]

Welcome to the Fabulous AC!
I suggest you rehome or donate your 3 large plecos real soon.You don't have near the tank for them.That pleco will end up killing your angel if it manages to latch onto your angel.Its eating the slime coat off of it.
Get a pic up of your smaller plecos.They may be of the the smaller species.

[NicJesse]

hi, by large i mean 15cm, is that very big?? to me it's big compared the small 2 that are about 6cm.
They seem to have plenty of room and have always lived in this tank with the same agel fish and pretty much all of the other fish too.

[NicJesse]

in fact just got a tape measure out and 10-12cm is probably more accurate!

[lmgiles88]

Yeah sorry NicJesse, but Northern Guy is right. The tank is far too small for that many Plecos.

[Red]

They can get about 2 feet long, they are sucking slime coat, which means your not feeding them enough. i would try and find a new home but until then try to feed them cucumber or some type of veggie.

[Northernguy]

Most fish get along when young.Its the mauring that you must watch for.
Your plecos can grow to two ft.They can also be aggressive fish.Your tank is way too small for one yet 5.Yes they are fine as when small but they do grow fast.If it latches onto your angel there is a good possibility that it will kill it.
Find a new home for them.
If you want small plecos get bristle nose or a clown pleco.

[NicJesse]

ok will look into giving them away then and in the meantime look to fill them up on some other food.

As you can guess i have little experience of tropical fish but as i was given the tank with these fish in i just assumed they were ok.

Thanks for you help.