My Pleco!?!

[BHead108]

I was sitting on my couch when i look over i find that my pleco is sucking on a dead fish.
I am wondering if it is a possibility that he killed the fish.I thought plecos weren't known
to kill. I'm wondering if i should get rid of it. My tank was looking very good and no fish
was acting strange before the death

 

[leggey]

What type is it ? They are known for sucking on the slime coat of fish if they can get close enough. And my bullys the whole tank ha ha he's the daddy !

 

[BHead108]

It is just a regular sailfin pleco. And i don't know how it caught my green barb

 

[leggey]

Might have got him while he was sleeping or odds are he just died on his own and ya pleco found him after

 

[Coursair]

I was sitting on my couch when i look over i find that my pleco is sucking on a dead fish.
I am wondering if it is a possibility that he killed the fish.I thought plecos weren't known
to kill. I'm wondering if i should get rid of it. My tank was looking very good and no fish
was acting strange before the death

Plecos don't kill fish usually. I bet he was just recycling. And Plecos don't suck Slime Coat, that's Chinese Algae Eaters, they are known for that.

 

[leggey]

I have to disagree, they will suck on slime coats and this will kill the fish ! But this would mean that the pleco is staving and maybe this is the issue ? What are you feeding your pleco ?

 

[Coursair]

I have to disagree, they will suck on slime coats and this will kill the fish ! But this would mean that the pleco is staving and maybe this is the issue ? What are you feeding your pleco ?

Ah I wasn't thinking of a starving Pleco. CAE do it by choice.

Plecos need driftwood and a varied diet. Zucchini, Romaine, Algae Wafers, etc...

 

[jetajockey]

I can't visualize a common pleco catching a healthy tiger barb even if he wanted to, I bet the fish was already dead.

 

[absolutangel04]

I agree with jetajockey that the fish was likely dead.
I am just going to add in here that it is certainly not unheard of for healthy common or sailfin plecos to suck the slime coats off of other fish, but the people who usually have that issue are discus or goldfish keepers. Discus and goldies move much slower than barbs, so I wouldn't be concerned about this pleco being a killer.
Plecos are wonderful at fish in the tank quickly, so I am sure thats what happened. Sorry about your barb.

 

[leggey]

As do I, (it's what I said in the 4th post ) I was just going through all the possibilities

 

[dizzy1968]

hi,
hope you don't mind but i have a little story id like to share,

iv just brought a tank from a friend a couple of months ago, it has 1 bristle-nose and 1 pleco amongst other fish, both lived together in a cave with 2 clown loaches.

Anyway we decided to change tank and add bog wood, live plants etc. as we moved the cave there was loads of eggs and the bristle-nose was looking after them, now i know why the pleco was out of the cave a lot cos once she lays the eggs he fertilises them and chases her away otherwise she will eat the eggs/babies, so i read.

Anyway babies hatched and we ended up with approx 60 babies, which we ended up buying a 30lt tank and putting all babies in there, they have done really well eat and poo like you wouldn't believe lol, we have lost about id say 20 babies all have been a lot smaller than the other not sure why cos they eat me out of house and home lol, and i found that the bigger ones are eating all the ones that have died.
Now are they killing the little ones off ? (survival of the fittest and all that) or are they just eating them as its food??? i don't think they are killing them, i think they are just doing what comes natural and feeding.

thanks for letting me share my story

dizzy from the uk

 

[dizzy1968]

p.s forgot to add, have more babies on the way, iv got to spilt them 2 up its no good ill be running alive with babies, although i have just been to my lfs and they have said they would buy the babies off of me.

dizzy

 

[BHead108]

I am feeding my pleco algae wafers and he has drift wood in the tank that he loves