Cichlids with pleco.. good or bad?

[mariah]

I have a 55 gallon tank with cichlids in it. I have had this tank set up for a bit now.. about 6 months to almost a year? I have lately been having a few cichlids die off. I currently have 5 cobalt blue, 2 OB zebra, 1 strawberry peacock, and 2 electric yellow.. I have gone from 5 to 2 in the last few weeks. Anyways, My sister was given a tank and it has two fish in it. One in a pleco. I believe it is just a regular pleco. he is about 6 inches maybe a bit smaller. the tank is only a 10 gallon. She downsized from a 40g. There is also a long yellow/white algea eater thing? I dont quite know what it is but its only about 4inches. She is going to give me the pleco since I have multiple tanks that are over 10g. She was also told the "Spot" the pleco (doesnt really have spots) eats small fish such as neons. Would putting im in with all those cichlids be okay? They are about 3-maybe 3 1/2 inches. When I first got the cichlids I bought two bristlenose plecos and they killed them both in a matter of days... The bristlenose and the cichlids were the same size. Was that the problem? Will they kill Spot?
THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

[gbarajas8]

I say go for it! I just put a pleco in my 75gal tank with a couole of cichlids and it mostly hides during the day.. theyre most active at night in my opinion

 

[mariah]

I say go for it! I just put a pleco in my 75gal tank with a couole of cichlids and it mostly hides during the day.. theyre most active at night in my opinion

You don't think the cixhlids will pick on him? They are quite the nasty fish... they bite me when i put my hand in there

 

[NinjaTetra]

First off.... Unless a neon is dead, a pleco is NEVER gonna interact with it, the other fish sounds like a chinese algae eater or flying fox, and they might eat neons. My aunt has a 55 with a pleco. It has been there for almost 6 years. when all her tetras died, she got cichlids. One bully cichlid has killed a couple of the others, but the pleco just sits there on the glass.... When they stupidly put a carp in the tank and it was practically destroyed, the pleco was the only survivor. So... Unless you have a huge ram, you should be safe.

 

[Harlow]

I've got a green terror about 4 inches and a jack dempsey in a tank with several other fish, one being a 3ish inch leopard pleco. They do fine together. The gt and jack treat rhe pleco almost as a maid. They run off anything that comes near their caves but the pleco can just wonder in there and start sucking on the walls. If I listen close I can almost hear the pleco knock and call out "house keeping". Really, I wouldn't hesitate to put him in there. In my experience I've never seen any fish have problems with plecos. I've kept leopard and rhino plecos with never an issue.

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[dragonfisher33]

if you're talking about tiny pleco with big cichlids, then i would be worry. if they're comparable in size, i say go for it.

 

[mariah]

First off.... Unless a neon is dead, a pleco is NEVER gonna interact with it, the other fish sounds like a chinese algae eater or flying fox, and they might eat neons. My aunt has a 55 with a pleco. It has been there for almost 6 years. when all her tetras died, she got cichlids. One bully cichlid has killed a couple of the others, but the pleco just sits there on the glass.... When they stupidly put a carp in the tank and it was practically destroyed, the pleco was the only survivor. So... Unless you have a huge ram, you should be safe.

If i were to take a picture of it, would you be able to tell me what it is? I can get my sister to send me one. And yes, this pleco is bigger then my cichlids are. How am i going to feed the pleco though? I feed my cichlids algea wafers cut in to tinny pieces.. so i know they won't leave leave it alone if i put one in for the pleco. I was thinking maybe zucchini? Will that be enough? Also what should my sister feed that white guy? They are both in the 10g right now and don't even care about the wafer. Would the white guy eat flakes off the bottom?

 

[Coursair]

African Cichlids may attack and kill Plecos. They sometimes attack the eyes

 

[xwing]

It's true they sometimes kill placos but bigger placos are armored and they do defend themselves I had 1 with my oscars when ever they would try and pick on him he would shake his armored body and slam it against the oscars after a while they just left him alone

 

[NinjaTetra]

I can tell you if its a siamese algae eater or flying fox... And possibly some other things. I hadnt thought about feeding... Plecos are best in tanks that are older and have a decent amount of algae on glass and wood. The cichlids WILL eat the plecos food, and the pleco wont fight for food.

 

[mariah]

It's true they sometimes kill placos but bigger placos are armored and they do defend themselves I had 1 with my oscars when ever they would try and pick on him he would shake his armored body and slam it against the oscars after a while they just left him alone

He does look quite tough... and yes he is bigger then the cichlids for sure. If i put him in... what are signs he is getting picked on? Like his fins are damaged and what else? If worst comes to worst i can put him in my 29g with my goldfish... what's the min temp he would be okay with? He's in 80 right now and that's also the same as my cichlid tank. You don't think the pleco will eat small fish??

 

[xwing]

They are known to eat eggs off the walls they will challenge right away and than you will know but it sounds like he is twice their size so I doubt it

 

[dragonfisher33]

Any fish is capable of attacking other fish (ever thought about baby guppies and other fish?) if the fish are all relatively the same size, chances are nothing will happen. heck, I have even seem full grown Oscars leaving two inch pleco alone and even tiny puffers beat the crap out of grown angels

 

[mariah]

Any fish is capable of attacking other fish (ever thought about baby guppies and other fish?) if the fish are all relatively the same size, chances are nothing will happen. heck, I have even seem full grown Oscars leaving two inch pleco alone and even tiny puffers beat the crap out of grown angels

These are the pictures of them both

 

[mikem691]

tops a gold algae eater It will max out at about 10" and be mean. The pleco looks like a common.

 

[mariah]

tops a gold algae eater It will max out at about 10" and be mean. The pleco looks like a common.

What do you mean by be mean? She can't have guppies in there?

 

[mikem691]

I personally wouldn't but some times things work . I remember seeing one of these at the lfs in an african cichlid mixed tank and it was chasing every thing in the tank. But I have no experience with them so wait for more answers.

 

[xwing]

Id say the placo is big enough you may even run into problems because he might get too big depends on your size of tank a common placo can get up to 20 inches long. But I have seen those with the most aggressive cichlids like Texas and Red Devils.

I personally have 1 bristlnose in with my peacocks and they leave him alone

 

[xwing]

tops a gold algae eater It will max out at about 10" and be mean. The pleco looks like a common.

I have never had a gold algae eater so I wouldn't know about him

 

[mariah]

Id say the placo is big enough you may even run into problems because he might get too big depends on your size of tank a common placo can get up to 20 inches long. But I have seen those with the most aggressive cichlids like Texas and Red Devils.

I personally have 1 bristlnose in with my peacocks and they leave him alone

I do not want the gold algea eater. I believe my sister us going to keep him and then try to sell him before i give her guppies. I am going to put the pleco in my 55 gallon. There is quite a bit of slate in there.... he was in a 39g and then was downgraded to the 10g like a year ago.. i don't know if he is stunted or what