I was under the impression that Plecos made good tankmates for Oscars. Last night, after the lights in the aquarium went out and a few algae wafers went in, there was a little worrisome behaviour. I saw my pleco come out to get some food and my Oscar would pester him, picking at him, even dive-bombing him once! He even went so far as to attack some of the algae discs I had put in. Oscars don't like algae, why is he messing with that?!?! It's almost as if he was trying to sabotage his food source. What's up with this? Should I worry for Pleco? They are armored, correct? So is he really capable of being hurt by the Oscar?

Please enlighten. Thank you

I have a 6" Oscar with a 4" Pleco, they were both babies when i bought them, both of them r growing fast. but still sometimes my Oscar attacks my Pleco, sometimes chases it, but never harmed the pleco! Most of the time they r buddies! My Oscar was also interested in algae wafers at first but now he hates them and doesn't come near wafers!

is your Oscar a baby or an adult, if u keep your oscar with a fish from the childhood, the oscar will not harm it.

But Oscars r unpredictable, u can't say what they r going to do, but Plecos have tough exterior, so i think u don't have to worry. but if the Oscar doesn't go along with the pleco after a long time, i think it is better to remove the pleco.

My pleco use to chase my tiger oscar around the tank. It was pretty funny. I really don't think you have anything to worry about right now. All of my oscars would attack the alge disks either they think it's food or its the way it spins around and sinks to the bottom, they just want to know what it is. I don't think you will have much problem with injuries but when your pleco gets upwards of a foot you are going to need a pretty big tank. I think they can reach 2 feet. Best of luck.

Jeffrey wrote:


He's in between, actually. Probably about 6 months old. He's been in there with that pleco since I brought him [the Oscar] home.

Guess I will not worry so much. I'll watch them again tonight. If anything goes down I'll just drop a hair dryer in the water.

Oh just kidding!

generally oscars dont see plecs as a threat (unless they are breeding) but they will sometimes have a go at them. As long as it isnt all the time and also that the plec isnt getting injured i wouldnt worry about. I suspect things will settle down soon

I wouldn't worry either. Eventually (depending on the species) you pleco will outgrow the oscar and you'll have a permenant armistice. Both fish are tough and territorial. Things will work out fine.

I wouldn't worry either. Eventually (depending on the species) you pleco will outgrow the oscar and you'll have a permenant armistice. Both fish are tough and territorial. Things will work out fine.