Killer Clown Pleco

[kmarsh258]

I bought a clown pleco awhile ago to add to my 2 angels, 2 gouramis, and 2 cory cats. I bought it to eat algae but then soon realized they don't really eat much algae and all it does is hide in the castle I have in the tank.
But recently one of my gouramis have disappeared. The gourami was always in the castle too. Then today i saw the angel sticking half way out of the castle, looking kind of stuck with the pleco next to it, so i moved the castle and saw that half of its fin was missing!
Has anyone else ever had any problems with plecos eating other live fish? I don't want to keep it in my tank if its going to kill all of the fish.

 

[DragonFish71]

They will eat fish that are already dying. They don't kill your fish off. Something else is going on in your tank and the pleco is doing what they do best, scavenge.

Do you have a test kit? What is your water parameters?

How long has the tank been set up?

 

[josh7]

Exactly I agree with dragonfish. The Pleco is not actively hunting them but it will dying fish.

 

[kmarsh258]

Its a 10 gallon tank and its been setup for a few years now.
and thats what I thought when the gourami went missing because i knew they would eat dead fish but my angel fish is still alive after I separated them

 

[cgthebeast]

A 10g is not the proper tank to keep those fish in. My guess is that your fish have stunted and are dying off and the pleco is doing its job

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Yeah definitely not a large enough tank, check water parameters, your nitrates are probably sky high. Water changes should be done until you can find a larger home for these guys.

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[abw0004]

The only fish that will fit that tank are the cory cats. The cory cats and the pleco will fight FYI and cory cats usually need at least a group of 5 to be happy. I have a clown pleco as well and they are very shy. You need to feed it algae wafers though as assuming that it will eat algae off the tank isn't enough. I know it sucks, but you should probably re-home those fish. I have found that liveaquaria.com is a great website to look at the parameters (gallons) that the fish need to be happy. Also, this is a good compatibility chart:

Freshwater & Brackish Compatibility Chart

I hope this helps!

 

[Rivercats]

Besides the tank being too small Pleco's have been known to suck the slime coating off other large bodied fish especially if they are not able to get enough food. I use New Era Plec Pellets, Algae Wafers, and put sliced zucchini pieces in the tanks with pleco's every other day usually. They need to be fed and not just expected to eat what they can find in the tank.

 

[Coursair]

Plus some Pleco species need driftwood as part of their diet.

Poor fish can't grow I'm such a tiny tank. Angels get really large