Hello

My 13" Plecos no longer is interested in the wafers.

I caught him 2 days ago and has attempted it several times already to hold my 11" O's down and suck on them. He is getting a little rough with them also.

Am I neeeding something new for my Plecos or is it time to seperate him and find a new home for him?

THanks for the help.

If this is the case then I would Rehome it. They are nocturnal and it is not uncommon for them to suck on the side of another fish whilst it's asleep. If it manages to do this it could cause a very nasty ulcer which could get infected

thanks. will rehome immediately!!!

Rehoming. YES. That's a pretty big plec and Ive heard they can get increasingly territorial as they mature. Since he's 13 inches that might be part of it. I have a 9 inch common plec and I noticed the same behavior (not to that extent) but he never went after the O until I changed the tank and did not give him a full cave to hide in. He's been fine since. No issues and he loves the wafers. I dont starve him but I do space them out much more than I used to. He's a better cleaner then and he doesn't crap 3 foot long dookie strings anymore. I noticed he seems to love the sand floor too since I switched from gravel. He loves burrowing down into it and making some more space to hunker down in. I also started playing him mid-to-late 60's and 70's Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass classics...if you have them on hand Pleco's relish the soothing and calming melody's.

A plec will attach to the side of a fish given the opportunity as they like eating the slime coat, any fish that "sleeps" is vunerable to the plec behavior.

Mine wont take wafers but will take frozen food like krill and cockles

Ambars_Os wrote:


I was under the impression all fish sleep (?) to a certain extent. Even the sharks that have to keep moving...

yes and no....goldfish, Koi and Oscars will rest on the bottom to sleep which is perfect for a plec to get his fill...whereas other fish will float about midwater, resting.

cucumber works well, pinch it flat so it sinks. but i to think its time to go. sometimes you need to choose what fish you really want to keep.

thanks all for your input. my husband doesn't want to get rid of the pleco, urlacher so i think we'll have 2 tanks. this old one for urlacher which is 75 gal. and the new one of 125 will be just for my 2 O's. WOW, more tanks. I sure did not want that. THanks yall!

definately time to seperate, or you could end up with an injured oscar

wildaortiz wrote:


MTS it happens to us all at some point

wildaortiz wrote:


So you named him Urlacher...so essentially you're saying he's slow, injury prone...and overrated in the job he's supposed to do. Maybe you should get rid of him...