Pleco Killed Discus!

**EmmanuelJB** · 01-07-2010, 10:45 PM

Wow I would be mad too. Discus are reall expensive and pretty fish! But your pleco should NOT be punished.... Its not your pleco's fault. Maybe move your pleco in a different tank instead so it can't hurt your discus....

**Crispy** · 01-07-2010, 11:52 PM

Your pleco probably munched on your discus AFTER it was already dead or near-death. I highly doubt the pleco is the culprit here.

**Lady Hobbs** · 01-08-2010, 12:24 AM

You can not keep sucker fish with Discus. They suck on their slime coating. Get a pleco hanging off them and they probably can't get to the surface for air, either.

If you have that pleco with other Discus, you need to get rid of him.

Sorry you lost your fav Discus.

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-08-2010, 01:15 AM

Wow, let's clear up a few things here. There are certain species of Pleco that can and will latch on to a Discus and can in fact kill them. Secondly, there are some very good species of Loricariid to keep with Discus. The problems species of Loricariid are generally the larger species. Personally, I wouldn't keep anything larger than a 5" plec with Discus.

Sorry for your loss Sunny. I'd have to agree, that Plec has shown itself aggressive and would be best rehomed.

**BigMac** · 01-08-2010, 05:05 AM

I am sorry you lost you favorite fish.

It is not a bad idea to target feed pleco when being kept with any kind of fish. ( cant spell lorcerid)

I HATE when people expect a pleco to be a garbage fish or think it feeds on the other fish waste. I am not in any way saying that you keep you pet in that manner, but it is all too common.

I have taught every pleco I've ever had ( barring my current one) to take zuchini from the surface. I also fed wafers etc..

I am sorry you lost you favorite fish.

**Aeonflame** · 01-08-2010, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

You can not keep sucker fish with Discus. They suck on their slime coating. Get a pleco hanging off them and they probably can't get to the surface for air, either.

If you have that pleco with other Discus, you need to get rid of him.

Sorry you lost your fav Discus.

Agreed! I've seen this very thing happen with a common pleco and a discus.

**Northernguy** · 01-08-2010, 02:02 PM

I was given a common a few months ago.It came with a 20 gal tank!lol
I have it in with my sev and perch.It is constantly attacking the my fish.It has not been able to latch on yet but it sure tries several times a day.I am looking for a new home for it.
I can see yours killing your discus.They are aggressive fish.

**little hawaii** · 01-08-2010, 02:33 PM

send it to new yorks east river for a holliday.

**lobsternoob** · 01-09-2010, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by little hawaii

send it to new yorks east river for a holliday.

Uh, actually, please don't do that. It would most likely die pretty quick anyway because it is winter but...

There really isn't any way to "punish" a fish, it can't be made to understand that its naturally programmed behavior is unacceptable to you. But I'm sure you've already gotten that plenty from what others have said.

Try craigslist or a LFS to hopefully rehome the pleco, that would be what I would do.

Sorry about your discus, they are awesome fish. I had discus in the past and also learned that common plecos can be quite aggressive towards them. None of mine were ever killed, but the pleco made moves for them and also spooked the heck out of them when he'd go crashing around the tank, the pleco didn't stay in that tank long, about 3 days... It wasn't even a very large common.