Sabi

The common pleco is generally thought to be peaceful. But is it really?

I witnessed something that made me stare open mouthed last week. It was late about 12:00 am, i switched on the room light to check something and then went to take a look at the fish out of curiosity. Algy (common pleco) was ramming my leopard sailfin pleco (small-3-4in) continuously and near at hand the L260 was sitting tight in his log (which is far too small for Algy, luckily)!! I swear i could hardly believe it, i sat on the couch and just stared! With the room light on too, he didn't stop till the poor chap got away! So it seems they can get pretty aggressive. Just thought i'd post it here. Has anyone seen anything similar?

atmmachine816

Could be that they are both males and one thinks the other is in his territory. Plecos are generally peaceful to other fish but to each other they can be aggressive. I would keep an eye on them, you might have to separate them. I have a male and female bristlenose pleco together and have no problems though.

darkwolf29a

I have a common too, he does the same thing to my Oscar. I, originally, thought that the Oscar was picking on the pleco...until I saw it happen the other way too. Both are the same size, and it's just minor squabbles, so...I leave them alone. Normally, they leave each other alone.

I would keep an eye on them, just to make sure no one harms the other. Commons have some good armor, so you might want to research the other and make sure they do as well.

Sabi

Yip, I will keep an eye on them. I've never seen him do it again, in the day, at night i've checked but havn't seen him do it. I will be taking the leopard pleco out next week anyway. And if i have to take Algy out i have a pond he can go into. I was just curious to know why he's doing this...