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July 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Aggressive Pleco...Euthanize?
I haven't been on here in forever!!! Busy getting married.... 
Anyway, Our big Common Pleco (Plax) is getting rather nasty with our Parrot Cichlids. He's been chasing them and attaching to them. We're starting to get worried that he may end up killing them. It doesn't seem that this is terribly common with Pleco's, but I have heard of it before. We usually feed him 2-3 Algae wafers in the evening.
So what's the solution? Does he need more Protein? More food period? More variety? Or should we seriously consider Euthanizing him to protect our other fish? I'd like to find him a different home, but we know no-one in the area that keeps fish.
It's very difficult to monitor the situation, as the particular tank in question is staying at Heidi's mom's house. She feeds the fish, all we do is tank maintenance. | 
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July 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I wouldn't euthanize. I would try the varied diet first. protein, veggies, and whatever else he'll eat. I feed my plecos frozen brine shrimp once or twice a week. They eat it up. Even if you don't know anyone in the area list him on Craigslist, freecycle, or kijii. You can be picky about his home so he doesn't' end up in a 10 gallon. | |
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July 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| congrats on taking the plunge !!!!!! 
if there is no algae, and the older they get they dont eat it anyhow, you definitely need to give more to them piggies...id try the veggie at nite....cukes or big green lettuce weighed down on the bottom, as well as an 2 wafers in the morning and 2 at nite..hes a bigger boy isnt he? then id post on CL also.do you have a LFS that would take him? ....I wouldnt euthanize either as hes just doing what nature tells him to... | |
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July 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
|  It's good to see you, congratulations!
Good advice above and welcome back! | 
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July 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Why thank you all so much! :-) Marriage is certainly a lot of work.
Euthanasia is only a last resort option, but all the platy's and swordtails that were in that tank have died off... and some of them were severely torn up. I'm beginning to wonder if Plax had something to do with this.
The only LFS we have that takes fish is a horrible place, if I was a fish I'd rather be dead than be there.
So he's likely just not getting enough food?
We're heading out to Petsmart right now to get something that has more protein....like shrimp wafers. The veggies are hard to do seeing as we are only there about 1 time a week (gotta keep it simple for momsy.) Maybe frozen Brine Shrimp too...
He is a big boy....9 inches. | |
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July 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| [quote=Shawnie;639516]congrats on taking the plunge !!!!!! QUOTE]
lol...
doomsday...
i wouldnt euthinanize him, im sure there must be a petstore with a show aquarium...
omg ok my sister was reading along and she thought euthanizing was... "fixing" the male or fem... ok sorry back to the subject,
I would think it a couple times, i would play around with his food first before jumping into any desicions...
tony | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Ironically all the sinking pellets have the same amount of protein that the Algae Wafers do. Still, we got him some sinking shrimp pellets just for variety. Had the mom in-law give him 4 wafers tonight.
I would never trust her to feed him fresh veggies. She's of the old school mentality where you throw some fish in a tank, pour a few cups of anything edible in, and wonder why they die. She tells stories of how her mother fed her fish Mashed Potatoes!  | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| When we were little, we would feed our goldfish in the pond with rolled oats.
Okay - back to Plax - definitely add the shrimp pellets and there is another one that Dr's Foster & Smith have that is for cories - bottom feeder omnivore tablet. Ahh - found the link for it { https://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...63&pcatid=6263
Also, what size tank is he in? 9" long he may just be trying to defend his "turf". Does he have at least two hiding places? My two are about 9 - 10 inches and really didn't like being in the 40 gallon breeder tank for the winter. They didn't have anyplace to swim. They were so much happier when they could go back to the 150+ gallon pond. I don't think they stopped "cruising" for a week! | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks for the link!
Sadly, he's in a 55 gallon tank. Originally our CAE's were in that tank with our Parrots, but one didn't get along with them. So I bought another 55 off Craigslist, I arrived to pick it up to find 3 Black Skirt Tetra's and one huge Pleco in a Gladware container sitting beside the tank. Obviously I couldn't let them kill the fish so I put Plax in with the Parrots and put the tetra's in the new tank with the CAE's.
He can't really fit in any of the "hiding spots" anymore...that tank was never designed to have a Pleco in it.
Last edited by dancerhas; July 31st, 2009 at 12:15 PM.
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Maybe look into getting him a couple of new hiding spots. I'm not sure what would work but to keep it cheap you could maybe try some PVC pipe, use silicone to attach rocks to "hide it". I've never had a plec but I wish I could offer better help.
Good Luck with him.
P.S. I just thought of something. While the alage wafer's may of that same level of protien etc. as the shrimp pellets it could be other "trace" nutrients/minerals/ amino-acids or something that he requires. I don't know what older plec's eat in the wild but if they eventually stop feeding on algae it may have something to do with a change in their metabolism as they mature. More "meaty" foods could fix it. | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I built a "cave" by putting a large flat rock over two other decorations so that it made a larger cave for my plecos. I also used a clear plastic office tray to make a "cave" under a larger decoration. I broke out a large hole in the bottom of the tray and used silicone to cover the sharp edges. Then I used some clear acrylic dishes to make the four legs - attached with silicone - to raise it enough for the plecos to swim under it. A large decoration (two vases) sat on top of it to hold it down since the acrylic wanted to float. The favorite places were under the vases, on the bottom side of the flat rock, and inside the plastic log. Here are some pics of how I had them - if you look close, you can see the pleco attached to the underside of the inside of the log and the chinese algae eater sitting on the bottom of the inside of the log. There were times when both plecos and all three cae's would be crammed inside that log.  | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Very clever, Gremlin! | |
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July 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| woot  | |
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August 1st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Really cool setup! I like how it's completely hidden from the front. Perhaps some re-scaping is in order for our boy. I changed the feeding regimen today for the tank, here it is:
Morning and evening:
5 Cichlid Pellets
Tiny Pinch of Flakes
Pinch of Shrimp Pellets
2 Algae Wafers | |
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