Hello everyone I'm new to this forum
But anyways, lately i have been noticing that my common pleco that i have named "charlie" has been chasing around my Oscars ! Is this normal behavior or should i take the pleco out of the tank, also i have noticed small wounds on fins and some scales missing :/ My Oscars are around 3-5 inches 1 being a tiger and the other a Albino, and my pleco is 9 inches.

An aquarium is not a natural environment for any creature so you must expect the unexpected. Plecs can be vicious little buggers if they want to be. If this carries on, you may have to remove the Plec. Personally, I don't like Plecs, I have kept them in the past but I just find them too big and messy

be carefull, i think your oscar can try to eat charly when he fits its mouth

If you have noticed missing fins, or even parts of fins. I would remove the plec IMMEDIATELY!

BTW, Welcome!

What is your feeding routine with the pleco?
What size is your tank and fish stock? Is it just the 2 oscars and the pleco?


Generally plecos can become territorial, (mostly with other plecos), and they will defend themselves, but they also will do so with other tankmates on occasion.

plecs and oscar often leave each other alone as they dont compete for the same food but sometimes an oscar can hassle an plec, and rarer a plec can bully an oscar. If your plec is injuring your oscar and it continues, then you will have to separate them or your oscar could end up being badly injured or even dying

I have them in a 265 gallon tank, its not oscar who pics on the plec its the plec that picks on the Oscars, they go near and since he is twice there size almost he chases them around alot , I personally like my 2 Oscars more than the pleco, but he does help keep clean :/

Ripspring wrote:


That's nice sized tank you got there.

I'm thinking you just gotta rehome the plec, then. Sounds like he has plenty of room, places to hide, etc. No reason for him to be aggressive towards the oscar's other than you probably just have an overly aggressive plec there. It happens. Plecos can become increasingly territorial as they mature at times as well.

What kind of diet do you use with the plec? Mine didn't really clean anything much...just shat out huge ropes of crap.

I give him algae wafers and slices of zucchini and cucumber, and what could happen if I dont get rid of the plec? will he actually KILL my oscars? And yea i know he makes a pretty big mess, but i dont have a algae problem lol.

He could cause your Oscar to die, yes... Plecs can do some serious damage!

Ripspring wrote:


Sure he could kill them.

More likely not 'an all out assault all at once until until dead' thing, probably it's more likely he would attack and harass continually to the point that he not only causes significant physical damage, but this damage and harassment also causes significant stress. This leaves them very susceptible to infection and malnourishment/lack of appetite...eventually death.

welcome to oscarfishlover.com Ripspring! generally Oscars are more dominant than plecos. that is very interesting. I would like to see a vid of the behavior.

I can't belive this thread made it this far with out someone asking our new friend Ripspring to post some pics of his tanks and fish.