Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Do Large Plecs Eat Little Fish??

9K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  Lupin 
#1 ·
hi guys im just planning my tank for way in the future, :eek:
and was fancying on shoals of little fish?
but i will more than likely still have my very large plecs then, so i just wondered if they ate little fish?
i just couldnt imagine them being fast or agile enough to catch them?

any ideas??
:idea:
 
#5 ·
Funk said it... They wont eat a live or fish that is able to move away from it. they will chow down on a dead or dieing fish. My plecos have trouble catcing a floating pellet so even if there mouths let them swallow small fish they could never catch it.
 
#6 ·
my dad doent like plecs, he said as they get larger they start ripping scales off other fish
this is slightly more believable but they are so slow and bulky i just cant imagine it at all :?
so i can now start writing lists of little fish i fancy :D :D :D
 
#7 ·
maybe not intentionaly. Some plecos have some rather savage spines on them, but any injury from them would be minor at best. i have never had one of my plecos hurt or even open an eye at another fish.

They have injured me many times with their spikes, but thats because im a moron. The fish were not at fault.:wink:
 
#8 ·
BN pleco on BN pleco, will inflict major damage if they are allowed to fight. I found this out be accident. As for other fish, I have a common that lives with a Skunk Botia Loach, and I mean lives with it. They share the same cave and actually the loach will sleep in top of the pleco or visa versa.

Have never seen any type of pleco attack a living fish, shrimp yes, not fish. My commons ate my ghost/glass shrimp when I got them before 1/2 of them hit the bottom. :shock:
 
#9 ·
I think what he was referring to was that plecs will resort to feeding on fish if they are hungry. This often happens when someone adds a plec to a tank that doesn't provide enough natural food supply, and they don't supplement the plecs. I have seen it happen, unfortunately, and it's not pretty. They tend to "stick" to the side of a fish, whatever fish they can catch up to first, and yes, they will "stalk" another fish if they're really hungry. If the plec is well fed, there should be nothing to worry about with healthy fish in the tank, that is not their preferred diet. Dead fish, yes... very sick fish, sometimes.
 
#12 ·
lol yes they can and they will, They fancy the following

Neon Tetras
Cardinal Tetras
Smaller Tetras.. etc.
Guppys
Small Swordtails
Other small plecos
basicly smaller fish etc.
they really like neon tetras so be carefull with those.
 
#15 ·
KishFeeper said:
lol yes they can and they will, They fancy the following

Neon Tetras
Cardinal Tetras
Smaller Tetras.. etc.
Guppys
Small Swordtails
Other small plecos
basicly smaller fish etc.
they really like neon tetras so be carefull with those.
You make it sound like they actively hunt them down!! :shock:

Wrong imo
 
#18 ·
Hi I am new here, found the site looking for info on pleco's attacking other fish. It never fails at feeding time my pleco becomes increasingly aggressive at feeding time. My tank just has the pleco and 2 fancy shubunkins and 2 regular shubunkin gold fish. My fancy shubunkins have no tails left from my pleco feeding on them, any suggestions or comments?
 
#20 ·
blackwidowfarms said:
Hi I am new here, found the site looking for info on pleco's attacking other fish. It never fails at feeding time my pleco becomes increasingly aggressive at feeding time. My tank just has the pleco and 2 fancy shubunkins and 2 regular shubunkin gold fish. My fancy shubunkins have no tails left from my pleco feeding on them, any suggestions or comments?
Welcome aboard.:wave:

Remove the plecos in this case.:)
 
#22 ·
sazzy said:
flatcam1 said:
whatever you do, don't put in discus with them.
Cam is that because they look like oversized waffers? :lol: :lol:
:bluelaugh: :bluelaugh:
I never thought of that.:mrgreen: But maybe he meant it.:mrgreen:
 
#24 ·
That is the oddest thing I have ever heard about a pleco. The only thing I can think of is maybe the goldfish are so slow that the pleco prefer the slime coat and the tails or maybe the pleco are not getting enough food.

It could have something to do with the way they were raised or where they caught in the wild.
 
#25 ·
i find that plecos have quite varied tastes especily the common type ive never seen them eat live fish but ive watched a large common i own take kio balls from the top by wrapping its lips around and them dead fish will disapear without trace in a pleco inhabited tank
 
#26 ·
thanks for the ideas, I feed my fish hikari flake for the gold fish and hikari algae wafers for my pleco. I hope that I haven't done anything to cause this behaviour. Guess the gold fish will either make it or wont. THis pleco was previously in a tank with my chiclids where the smallest one was also the brunt of my plecos hunger. The strong will survive, think I will keep the pleco and see what happens. I should take some video of feeding time and broadcast it. Too funny, thanks everyone chat later!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top