Help! Which fish ate my new longfin albino bristlenose pleco

Hi, I'm a newbie here, appreciate any help i can get!
I got my longfin albino bristlenose pleco yesterday. I put him in and he seem to be doing fine and mostly hide on the small pleco cave i gave him.
I still saw him about 6 hours ago, but when i went out and came back just about 1 hour ago, he was dead.
I said he was "eaten" because when i pull him out of the tank, most of his belly is missing right up to his neck, some of his fins and his tail are missing as well.

My stock is:
- Tank size 30gUS
- 10 x zebra danios
- 3 x glofish skirt tetra
- a pair of male and female apistogramma borellii
- planted tank with java ferns, anubias, some cholla driftwoods and some ceramic caves.

I have read many sites that said apistogramma borellii should have a peaceful temperament.
So which fish do you think that ate my bristlenose pleco? And what i need to do now with my tank after having a dead fish in it. I am dechlorinating some waters to do 50% water change of my tank right now.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

It's possible the pleco died and the fish picked on his dead body. I would say the pair of grammas would most likely have killed it if it was fish related death. They share the same level off the aquarium as a pleco and could of been defending a nest site.

 

I'm sorry about your pleco. Many of those fish are carnivores, so it's possible that some of the fish picked at it after it died. Did you quarantine the pleco before adding it to the tank?

 

Thanks you all for replying. Yes, i did quarantine the bristlenose pleco but only for 3 hours though and when i pull him out of the quarantine tank he seem to be fine. I have not researched much about quarantine process though, so an detailed article about it would be appreciated. And would a bristlenose pleco is fine for my current stock or should i get a bigger type of pleco.

Thanks again!

 

Thanks you all for replying. Yes, i did quarantine the bristlenose pleco but only for 3 hours though and when i pull him out of the quarantine tank he seem to be fine. I have not researched much about quarantine process though, so an detailed article about it would be appreciated. And would a bristlenose pleco is fine for my current stock or should i get a bigger type of pleco.

Thanks again!

I would definitely assume without other evidence that he died and then was picked on by other fish. I wouldn’t go larger than a bristlenose for a Pleco in a 30g tank. How did you acclimate the Pleco?

 

I would definitely assume without other evidence that he died and then was picked on by other fish. I wouldn’t go larger than a bristlenose for a Pleco in a 30g tank. How did you acclimate the Pleco?

I just put the pleco fish bag floating on my aquarium for about 10 mins because i saw some youtubers did that when they added new fishes to their tank.

I also fill my quarantine tank with my own fish tank water and run a small sponge filter for 3 hours.

Right now, I am noticing some things though. My apistogramma pair keep swimming up and down from bottom to top of the tank, usually they just sit in the bottom of the tank. Is it fine or should i do something?

 

I just put the pleco fish bag floating on my aquarium for about 10 mins because i saw some youtubers did that when they added new fishes to their tank.

I also fill my quarantine tank with my own fish tank water and run a small sponge filter for 3 hours.

Right now, I am noticing some things though. My apistogramma pair keep swimming up and down from bottom to top of the tank, usually they just sit in the bottom of the tank. Is it fine or should i do something?

Here are the three ways to acclimate a new fish properly: Acclimating Fish to Your Aquarium. The best and least stressful way for the fish is the drip method, which is what I usually do. The drip method is pretty much essential when adding any invertebrates except snails. With Hardy fish you can do the floating method as described in the linked resource. I definitely wouldn’t recommend just floating and then dropping the fish straight in. All you’ve done in that scenario is temp acclimate them, not acclimated them to all the other parameters of your tank.

What are your tank’s parameters? (PH, Temp, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate)

 

Glass surfing is when fish swim at the glass up and down. It is usually a sign of stress. Check your water parameters. The dying fish could have thrown something off or just adding and taking out the other fish could have stressed them out. Read the recommended article on acclimating that was suggested. Also quarantining is keeping a fish in a separate tank for usually 4 weeks to ensure it does not have any diseases/parasites that it could infect the main tank with. If it does have any issues it is generally easier/cheaper to treat a small tank with 1-2 fish than a larger tank with multiple fish. There are multiple stickies you can read in the quarantine part of the forum. I agree with most other posters that the BN probably died and the other fish just took advantage of a free meal.

 

Apistogramma + catfish = a big no no, generally speaking. If his eyes were pecked out, you can blame the Apistogramma. If he still had his eyes, someone else did it

 

I only have test kit for PH and ammonia. Right now my PH is around 7.5 to 8 and my Ammonia is < 0.05. Water temperature should be around 27°C (80.6°F). I will buy Nitrite, Nitrate tommorrow. Thank Freshfishguy for how to acclimate a new fish to my aquarium, definitely gonna do that the next time I adding new fish.

Apistogramma + catfish = a big no no, generally speaking. If his eyes were pecked out, you can blame the Apistogramma. If he still had his eyes, someone else did it

The bristlenose pleco's eyes were still intact, only his belly and fins were eaten. So maybe it was not the Apistogrammas.
I can not keep apistogramma and catfishs together? But i saw some videos where they were kept on the same tanks, even some corydoras too and they did fine. I did the recommended things that setup plenty of plants and some driftwoods too block apistogramma's eye sight. I also chose apistogramma borellii since they are known to be more mild temperament and can tolerate other bottom dweller tank mates like plecos, corydoras,... Should i keep only the apistogramma pair for the bottom of my tank?

 

I only have test kit for PH and ammonia. Right now my PH is around 7.5 to 8 and my Ammonia is < 0.05. Water temperature should be around 27°C (80.6°F). I will buy Nitrite, Nitrate tommorrow. Thank Freshfishguy for how to acclimate a new fish to my aquarium, definitely gonna do that the next time I adding new fish.

The bristlenose pleco's eyes were still intact, only his belly and fins were eaten. So maybe it was not the Apistogrammas.
I can not keep apistogramma and catfishs together? But i saw some videos where they were kept on the same tanks, even some corydoras too and they did fine. I did the recommended things that setup plenty of plants and some driftwoods too block apistogramma's eye sight. I also chose apistogramma borellii since they are known to be more mild temperament and can tolerate other bottom dweller tank mates like plecos, corydoras,... Should i keep only the apistogramma pair for the bottom of my tank?

There are two types of people that keep Apistogramma and Catfish together...

1) People who have had the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

2) People who are going to have the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

Anyone who says otherwise probably hasn't kept borellii, or hasn't kept them long enough for it to happen yet. Apistogramma have got good aim, and understand where the armored parts aren't...

Being that Apistogramma are bottom sifters/earth eaters there is really no reason to keep catfish IMO

 

There are two types of people that keep Apistogramma and Catfish together...

1) People who have had the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

2) People who are going to have the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

Anyone who says otherwise probably hasn't kept borellii, or hasn't kept them long enough for it to happen yet. Apistogramma have got good aim, and understand where the armored parts aren't...

Being that Apistogramma are bottom sifters/earth eaters there is really no reason to keep catfish IMO

OK, thank you for the information. If it so i might just get another female apistogramma borellii since the bottom of my tank seem so empty.

Thanks again.

 

I would say it most likely died then they ate it. I have my apistos with Habrosus cories for a long time and never any issues.

 

You are better safe without other bottom feeders, then sorry, with dead bottom feeders. I personally have no experience with apistos, but this thread is interesting to me as I was thinking to get them someday.

Quarantining a fish is stressful. The fish went on a terrifying ride from the breeders to the petstore and another scary ride to you, to a small tank, to eventually get to a nice tank they can call home. When you put him in the small tank for only 3 hours to observe him, he didnt have time to calm down, and he was double scared when you moved him again. So if he had any issues/weeknesses, it could end up being too much for a little fish.
So just learn from this - keep a healthy cycled quarantine tank, and keep on the safe side with tank mates for semi aggressive fish.

 

I would qualify the Apistogramma / catfish advice, a breeding pair of Apistos will certainly attack catfish. But I have two male Apistogrammas ( agassizii and cacatuoides) in a 240 l tank and two small plecos with no problems whatsoever. The tank does have a lot of wood and hiding places. The apistos chase and display at each other sometimes but I have never seen them attack the plecos.

 

There are two types of people that keep Apistogramma and Catfish together...

1) People who have had the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

2) People who are going to have the Apistogramma peck the eyes out of the catfish

Anyone who says otherwise probably hasn't kept borellii, or hasn't kept them long enough for it to happen yet. Apistogramma have got good aim, and understand where the armored parts aren't...

Being that Apistogramma are bottom sifters/earth eaters there is really no reason to keep catfish IMO

Your profile says you have more experience than me, which I’m conscious of. But I have to disagree with your statement that catfish and apistos cannot coexist. I currently have an apisto njisseni in a 20g tank with 6 panda corys and a clown Pleco, and in my 40g breeder I have a bristlenose, another smaller L type Pleco, and 6 Corys with a cockatoo apisto and I’ve had zero issues. The 40g is coming up on its one year since being setup, and the 20g has been set up for 10 months. Zero issues in either tank. I think if you have any breeding action, you probably shouldn’t keep other bottom dwellers, as the tank should be setup in the most optimal way for the breeding fish, although in a large enough tank it could be done.

 

Your profile says you have more experience than me, which I’m conscious of. But I have to disagree with your statement that catfish and apistos cannot coexist. I currently have an apisto njisseni in a 20g tank with 6 panda corys and a clown Pleco, and in my 40g breeder I have a bristlenose, another smaller L type Pleco, and 6 Corys with a cockatoo apisto and I’ve had zero issues. The 40g is coming up on its one year since being setup, and the 20g has been set up for 10 months. Zero issues in either tank. I think if you have any breeding action, you probably shouldn’t keep other bottom dwellers, as the tank should be setup in the most optimal way for the breeding fish, although in a large enough tank it could be done.

100% accurate. You can totally get away with a lonely Apistogramma. My statement really only pertains to folks in the OP’s position who maintain pairs of Apistogramma