I posted a few weeks ago about my malawi tank i have set up.

In my oscar tank i have 2 bristle nose plecs that i was given by someone who was moving and giving up fish keeping. They are about 3 inches

Im thinking of putting a bristle nose in with my malawis. Would this be a bad idea, would the plec get battered or will he do fine in with the malawis

He will be just fine in there!! I have an albino Bristle nose in with mine! And he has been happy in there for years!

Thanks, now i just got to fish one out from my 100g. That will probably mean taking all the rocks and wood out- what joy!!!!!

delboybully wrote:


Sounds like a party I was just at.

Today I had to catch my big plec to rehome him to an indoor pond.

Anyways, about an hour later I got him...this is after being completely soaked and having to remove any large pieces, and kicking up all the sand, uprooting plants, basically the tank is all f*ck-all right now. Meanwhile my oscar is getting in the way and trying to keep both of us out of HIS space.

For as big as he was it's amazing how agile and able to use the decorations to his advantage he was. He wedged himself partially behind an intake tube too and I had to remove one of the whole filters to kick him back into play. :angry:

Sounds like you had a fun time johnny. Luckily for me i no long have to catch a plec. A friend hasa community tank and they are moving and giving up fish. They had 2 plecs that "havent grown much" that i am now the proud owner of. Ther are tiny little things and they now live with my malawis. Time will tell if they are 'special' plecs that dont get bigger than 2inches

Getting a pic is a nightmare- i rarely see them. I will wait until they bigger and will then post a pic

I had to get rid of mine b/c I could see him too much, hell, with his size and armor he could barely turn around. He's in a pleco taj mahal now though. Big aquarium store indoor pond with tons of plants, rocks, fish, a fountain, and it's nice and murky. I can visit him when I go to pick up supplies as the pond doesn't have sale fish in it, but I have no illusions about ever being able to find him in there with how murky and big it is, and with all the water hyacinth. I actually kinda miss him, but I had to get him outta there. I kept reminding the guys to remember he's in there and give him some treats every so often, like I was dropping my kid off at preschool or something. They're like, 'okaaay, don't worry, he'll be fiiiine, you can leave now."

He was turning out to be a beast already, those guys are going to have to 'noodle' him to get him outta there when he grows another 2 feet. lol

delboybully wrote:


That's one of the nicer things of keeping pleco's , catching them.
When i rehomed the ancistrus i have , out of the 180gl, i thought i might catch my Xingu pleco at the same time.


The crazy fish moved all over the tank and hid anywhere.
Indeed ALL the decoration in there had to be moved to get to him.
Took me and my wife half an hour to catch him, but we did.

When we finally saw him,i just pressed the head down and wiggled my finger under it's belly. If you never felt the skin of a pleco, this will be quite an expierience, for they feel like sandpaper.
I love that armour, and allways catch my pleco's by hand, if they need to be caught.

In my experience the best way to catch a large plec is by hand, they go stiff and play dead and are easy to lift out. The problem with using nets is that they can get spines/fins stuck in the net (and you would need a massive net for a large plec). Unfortunately nets are the only option with small ones

delboybully wrote:


lately when i had my broken tank accident, i had to use a net on Dimmy's sturisoma, for he may be a pleco, but freaks out like a sturgeon!
And i was lucky, his spines didn't get caught, but his fr#@kin nose did get stuck!!!
As you can understand with a nose like this:


So i told my wife to get the scissors.
She shouted;" NO WAY, you gonna cut off his nose???".

Surely i was gonna sacrifice the net, but before i got to that luckily the fish set himself free.