pleco eating goldfish......

[scauntay]

i did a search on it but didnt really find the exact answer i was lookin for. my pleco is not really eating them, but he ate the slime coat off of one of them. also ate most of one side of the tail fin off. my goldfish had eggs stuck on its tail so the pleco ate them and got the fin. anyway, i have seperated them from each other. my goldfish is doing fine and is growing its scales back and all. but im wondering if i should get rid of the pleco, or if i get another tank how will a 8" pleco do with mini puffers?

thanks
S

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I do not recommend Goldfish and pleco's in the same tank. Goldfish are cold water species whereas Plecos are a tropical specie. I would remove the pleco and put it in another tank (besides the puffer tank) or return him to the lfs. How large of a tank is it in right now?

 

[DepotFish]

You should not put any kind of sucker fish with goldfish. I've seen them stick to the inside of the fish's gills to basically eat the goldfish alive.

 

[coolchinchilla]

I saw a pic of a small pleco INSIDE of a goldfish's mouth. The pleco was rasping/eating the inside of the goldfish's gills. Pleco + goldfish = bad news for goldfish.

 

[Zagz]

I have a pleco with my goldies, but my goldies are huge! They are pond fish. I wouldn't put a pleco in with small goldfish by any means.

 

[scauntay]

my gold fish are a good size, about 5 - 6" each. there are in a 30 gallon tank right now. ive had them for over 2 years and my pleco is just now picking on the goldfish. only the bigger one though, he leaves the small one alone. i am planning on getting a 50-55 gallon tank soon. so i would be putting my pleco if it would go well with mini puffers. what is a good algea eater that would leave my goldies alone? also with some mini puffers. thanks for all the info guys.

edit: i would rather something aside from snails.

 

[Jchillin]

Note: I also posted in your other thread prior to seeing this one.

Yes, you are definitely going to need a larger tank for your pleco. Do you know what species it is?

Their are a number of algae eaters but they are also tropical and not well suited for a goldie tank, hence the reason you always find snails of some sort in a goldie tank.

 

[scauntay]

ok great, i guess ill have to get a snail. thanks for all the info guys.

 

[degbowl]

I have kept plecos with my goldfish for years without any problems, but I would never keep a common pleco with goldfish. I have had very good luck with bristlenose and rubbernose plecos. They don't get that big and leave my goldfish alone. I have heard of that happening with common plecos. I guess even with bristlenose plecos you would have to watch their behavior. I have kept them for over 5 years without a problem. That is just my experience I am sure other people have different opinions.

 

[scauntay]

hhmm... maybe it would be ok if my pleco was smaller than the goldies. and after i seperated the tank for about a week, it seemed as if my pleco just got big fast. might just be cause he is in half the tank and its an optical illusion. anyway thanks for all the help on this guys.

 

[TomK2]

I also keep small bristlenose pleco in with large goldies. No problems.

 

[jsoong]

You should not put any kind of sucker fish with goldfish. I've seen them stick to the inside of the fish's gills to basically eat the goldfish alive.

I've actually read the entire post with pics at GoldfishParadise. No, the pleco is not eating the goldy from the inside. But the goldy was trying to eat the pleco & got it stuck in its throat. (The consensus was that the pleco, in avoiding being swallowed, stuck out its spine & suck onto the gold's throat.) So you can't really blame the pleco on that one! But either way it was a bad end for both the gold & the pleco.

Agreed that common plecos don't do well with golds & have been known to suck on the slime coat of golds. However, from what I've read BN & rubberlips have been kept successfully with golds. Just make sure that the pleco is big enough that the golds won't attempt to eat it.

 

[Mosaic]

What is it about goldfish that makes them so tasty as opposed to other species? Or is it because they're slow swimmers?

 

[DepotFish]

A nice thick coat of slime.

 

[Billsgate]

The fact that it is eating the slime coat of your gold fish may indicate that it is not getting enough food. What are you feeding your pleco??