Is my bristlenose pleco bullying my red tailed black shark?

[KatieBunky]

Hi all, I acquired a male bristlenose pleco from a friend who thought he was eating all of her small fish & as I have no fish small enough to be eaten, I said I would have him. BIG MISTAKE. I'd read in one of my many fish books that BN plecos squabble with other bottom dwelling fish. Well I didn't know that "squabble" meant "savage fins". My beautiful red tailed black shark (named Fergul) now has 4 huge rips in his bottom & dorsal fins. I noticed this on Wednesday the day after I got the pleco & there was a rip 2/3rds of the way down Fergul's dorsal fin. Now you see, Fergul almost always has nips in his dorsal fin, no deeper than 2mm, because he will chase other fish at feeding time & my featherfin squeaker (named Shrek) will go & "tell him off". It's actually pretty cute. I usually find Fergul & Shrek side-by-side hiding in my plants & they are best buddies, so to me it doesn't look like Shrek has done this to Fergul. All evidence points to the BN pleco. I'm so ticked off about this, I've had Fergul for about 5 years & he is my little baby so no one messes with him & gets away with it!

Any suggestions or answers would be great. Thanks for reading guys

Typically British!

 

[toddnbecka]

I've kept BN for years, never seen them fight with anything but other (male) BN over territories. Certainly never ate other fish of any size, they're mainly algae grazers by nature. How big is your tank, and how much cover is available? Red tail sharks are notoriously territorial and need at least a 4' tank, same with the featherfin.

 

[anteatergoanna]

Wow, I have Pleco's and they are not at all aggressive, never seen them near my other fish, including my Red Fin shark. What other fish do you have, could it be one of those?

 

[KatieBunky]

My whole stocking is too long to type out & I always miss a few. I've written it all down on my profile though if you'd like to look at that. I've told the person who gave it to me that she can have it back because it was probably a different fish that was eating her small ones (she has jahannis)

Typically British!

 

[KatieBunky]

My tanks a 27 gallon & yes, I know it's way too small but I should be getting a 60 gallon by September. It was my nan's tank originally but she didn't want go keep fish anymore & I needed another tank because mine had had a massive leak & we had to get rid of that & shove about 15 fish (including Fergul & some of the other fish from my stocking list) into a 5 gallon because that was all I had. So I'm really stumped. My friend told me she is definitely taking back the pleco. It's just a bit weird how it's all happened after I put the pleco in the tank

Typically British!

 

[KatieBunky]

The pleco is gone

Typically British!