hamstermann

My common pleco was just a baby when we got him (about 2 inches, maybe?) and now he seems to have doubled in size in the last 2-3 weeks. We have been finding fry in our tank from our livebearers, but not many. could he be eating them? The guy at petsmart said plecos don't eat much meat and prefer veggies, but I'm really starting to wonder. anyone seen this before?

bbfeckawitts

He could definatly be eating them. My grandmothers huge pleco ate her big momma guppy.

Bonochick

Yikes!!

Butterfly

Usually plecos don't eat other fish unless they are dead or dieing. I would suspect the parents of eating the fry first.
Carol

hamstermann

When I changed the water tonight, I saw a fry in the canister filter. When I took it apart, I found 5 fry still alive in there! I dumped them back into the tank after putting some nylon pantyhose over the filter intake. So it turns out the filter was eating the fry. :-D

Butterfly

Bad filter! Bad,Bad filter! :P
Carol

hamstermann

Totally. I Hopefully that pantyhose wrapped around its mouth will teach it to behave.

mojoman101

how fast did you say your pleco grew? mine has been home for a while 6 weeks, and he doesen't seem to have grown at all. he does not really like those wafer either.

Butterfly

I'm glad to see you disciplined that bad filter the pantyhose should do the trick.
Carol

hamstermann

My pleco's been rocketing in growth. I've never measured him, but I think he's gained at least an inch or two since we bought him about a month ago. Pretty soon He'll be too big to hide in his castle, which will be nice for us because we'll see him more.

armadillo

OMG! Really? That's amazing. Whatever happened to them being gentle giants!