Hi All...Once again I have a wee question about my red spot pleco (and by bristle nose)

Our red spot pleco (approx 15cm long) and our male BN (approx 8cm long) have been living in harmony for about 9 months. We have had them both since they were very small. they live in a tank which is 90 x 30 x 30cm approx 80L.

Last week however we noticed that the smaller of the two - Bristlenose was chasing pleco. Harrassing him constantly around and around the tank. Pleco is a placid gentleman that minds his own business whereas BN is a bit more of a busybody.

Pleco is now rather depressed and has been hiding in our plant cover (not to mention uprooting most of it). He used to be the king of our tank - quite active with his top fin always displayed proudly (the photo in our photobucket account shows the happy guy he was only few weeks ago) - now his shies away in the corners, with his fins down and they have started to tear.

What shall we do?? Is the only option to separate them??

You should sit them both down and figure out what the problem is. Is there enough room in the tank? Does the BN think the Pleco is invading his personal space? Perhaps the BN needs a girlfriend/boyfriend? Is it a food issue?

All those are serious aside from "sitting them down". The BN may be getting frisky or territorial. Not sure how large the tank is, but I assume it's a fair size if you have a pleco in there. Separation is a common solution to fighting fishies.

BN has become the dominant fish between the two lately. He has taken over plecos usual chill out spot and has been especially greedy over food. We drop two disks minimum into the tank in the morning (we also feed them zuchinni - always two pieces of anything to avoid disputes over food).

However BN is smarter and he will drag one disk under the log where pleco cannot fit, he will leave it there for later and then try and go steal plecos disk which he is happily munching on. As of late - pleco has been submissively giving his disk to BN so that BN has the one stashed under the log and the one from pleco. Greedy lil ****!!

Perhaps BN would be happier with a girlfriend - but would this only make it harder for pleco to exist in happiness?

What can we do about his fins that have started to tear lately? - I presume that is from trying to root around between all our plants and munting himself or perhaps stress.

You will find that eventually a 3ft tank is to small for the pleco and will end up having to put the pleco into a larger tank (4+ft).

You could try having a re arrange of wood, rocks and ornaments etc in the tank and see if that helps sort out any territory disputes, the b/nose may want a female but if they end up having eggs the male b/nose may be worse.

For the split fins i would use some Melafix or Stress Coat if you have some.

Well the decision has been made, and BN has been brought by the LFS, and he was so aggravated on his trip there, he managed to puncher the bag.

He has been replaced with three juvenile small whiptalls (Sturisoma Festivum - I think)

We will leave red spot pleco to mend his minor fin tears, but any more growth and the move to a bigger home many be the deciding factor to what happens next.