humvee Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 We have 3 - I'm pretty sure this is the latest one that we picked up last weekend. I've taken some photos as it looks like his stomach has been ripped open - my apologies if they are a little gruesome (macro setting on the camera so REALLY clear) but if anyone has any ideas why this might have happened, they would much appreciated and hopefully prevent the same thing happening to our remaining 2 (cause they're expensive little buggers as well) Eariler tonight he was sitting in front of the cave, not moving much but that's nothing out of the ordinary for any of them, and checking the fish just before going to bed, we thought he has his tail caught, so put my hand in to free him up, and found him dead He wouldn't have been caught there if he was still alive, think he just got knocked there by another fish. Face on view Top looking from back Underneath Tried to take one from the side, to show that the stomach wasn't really sticking out, not sure how helpful this will be. I've checked my other 2 - their stomachs look fine, as does everything else. Other tank mates: neons, corys, honey gouramis, male guppies, a male platy and a SAE. The SAE is the only thing bigger than them, but pretty placid towards the nuggets - they even share the cave. Water tests: PH 7, Ammonia Nitrate Nitrite all 0 - did a water change last weekend and its a well cycled tank. I've put the poor little guy in a snaplock bag in the fridge so if anyone wants extra info, I should be able to give it for the next day or so. Would really like to find out what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Sorry to hear about your loss. Gold nuggets are well known to be very aggresive towards each other and will battle to the death over territory. If this is your newest fish It is very possile that one or both of your other two have killed it extract from www.planetcatfish.com Gold nuggets are territorial to other bottom dwellers and downright vicious to other gold nuggets. This stems from a desire to find and defend the best spawning cave, so take this into account if you plan to introduce these fish into a catfish tank. They do well in a community environment that fits their other requirements. Be careful with adult fish, they can kill each other in a crowded space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 On the subject of other tank mates. There is no way that i would keep an SAE with any of my fancy pleco's. They may look like they are getting along well but you never know whats happening after lights out. I would rather get rid of a cheap SAE than risk injury to my more expensive pleco's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 oh no that's terrible. what PC says is correct. they are quite agro towards each other, and ive only seen a couple of tanks where groups of them did fine (but it's very rare). do Gold Nuggets have those spiny barabel things too? I would have presumed that they would have been out and in defence mode if they were attacked. again, so sorry for your loss. I love fancy plecos, and losing them is especially hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Sorry to hear about your loss. They are a great fancy pleco and its always hard when you lose one. I agree with it probably being killed by one or both of the others. The offender(s) has then had a good munch on the belly. How bigs your tank? Although slow growing 'medium spot' (L018/L085) gold nuggets can grow to over 30 cm long so you will eventually need a large tank for the two of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humvee Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 thanks guys - we suspected that was what may have happened but it was a little strange that it took 5 days to happen. I would have thought that something like that would happen straight away. But when you look back on it, he's been hanging out at the front of the cave on the gravel for about a day now, whereas when we first got him, he was in the cave and under the driftwood with the others. They're all still babies, about 7cm - 8cm long, we'd had one for 4 weeks, one for 3 (which is a bit bigger than the first one) and then money meant we had to hold off on the third for 2 weeks and he was the smallest of them all but not much smaller than the first one (probably about the same size that the first one was when we got it but they love the fresh food so it had grown). RIP little fellow I'm really gutted because we are getting them with the hope of breeding when they have grown a little - its going to be harder to raise them if they're so territorial, and you don't see them for sale much either. Looks like I need to redecorate my tank a little, add some more caves to stop it happening again before getting another one, and then watching the tank even more closely than I was (somehow - I keep a pretty good eye one my fish as it is because I work from home, its sometimes very tempting to just sit in front of our tanks all day long) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Sorry to see such a sad ending to this Little Fellas life Sounds like a good idea to put a few more caves in the Tank, then each of the Pleco's may claim one as it's own. Better to have to many Caves than not enough, and have this happen again Good Luck with your other Two Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humvee Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 How bigs your tank? Although slow growing 'medium spot' (L018/L085) gold nuggets can grow to over 30 cm long so you will eventually need a large tank for the two of them. They're currently in a 145x38x45 tank - so about 240 litre, just under 5 foot, and once they grow a little, the plan is to get a 6 or 8 footer for them that's wider than their current tank, but our house doesn't have the room at the moment to start with one that big - the plan is to move to a lifestyle block next year where I will have a dedicated fishy room for our breeding fish so that our fancy plecos can have the main display tank almost to themselves With the exception of the SAE and handful of neons, all the other fish in the tank are either male livebearers (to give my ladies a rest), breeding corys (don't have room to separate them out so eggs get eaten by others - they have an orgy every couple of weeks when we change the water), or our honey gouramis which we are growing to start breeding, so most of them will be moved into the fish room. PS I'm not looking forward to dismantling and moving 6 fish tanks (actually we have 8 now - bought 2 more this week) and over 100 fish 30 minutes out of the city and setting it all up again - will take all day plus some Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 It will all be worth it, once you have a New Fishy Room set up, in your new place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simian Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Sigorney Weaver visit you lately? Dam that's a real shame I love those Plecs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humvee Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Sounds like a good idea to put a few more caves in the Tank, then each of the Pleco's may claim one as it's own. To be honest, adding more caves isn't something that I though I would need to do - there is at least 4 good hiding spots in the tank (big cave, under driftwood, piece of downpipe, about 6 terracotta pots, and sometimes they hide up behind the filter when I have disturbed them cleaning the tank. Everyone's favourite place is in the big cave - often has 2 nuggets, the SAE and a couple of corys in it - the nuggets hand upside down off the roof (its a long cave - one of those plastic half round ones at least 30cm long), so I may take it out and replace with some smaller ones instead - maybe they were just getting too crowded when the 3rd nugget came along This is a photo of the cave, before we got the 3rd nugget - it looks a lot shorter than it actually is in the photo Does anyone know where I could get some slate from in Chch? I really like the look of it in the Cichlid tanks, and have been wanting to try it out in my tank for something different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 How much slate do you need? I have one or two bits here and will be in ChCh in about 3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humvee Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 How much slate do you need? I have one or two bits here and will be in ChCh in about 3 weeks. Thanks Caryl. I hadn't really thought about it yet - just want to make some more caves in the tank. How much do you need for that? I'm open for suggestions cause I haven't even used it before - just saw it in other tanks and it looks cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 The fish room sounds like a great plan. As for caves and general cover, based on my experiences with Panaques - admittedly totally different plecos and less aggressive, you can never have to much cover. You need a number of areas where the less dominant fish can hide when theres a problem. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I don't have much slate, not enough to stack along a back wall like many do, but enough to make some small caves. I have both natural slate (I think) and cut stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I have 13 gold nuggets 6 cardinals and 8 adult discus in a 550L tank, I have very little aggression and no fatalities, I suspect the death is due to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I have 13 gold nuggets 6 cardinals and 8 adult discus in a 550L tank, I have very little aggression and no fatalities, I suspect the death is due to something else. Any chance of a pic? It Sounds like an awesome tank. That's a lot of $$$ in one tank. What are your filters , water change regime, back up systems etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 2 x cf 1200's 50% weekly water changes filters cleaned 6 monthly, fed on colourbits,bloodworm and growing nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilah Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I dont think it would have died from fighting as the fish shows no injuries other than the hollow stomach. Plecs fighting is rough stuff and they can survive a hell of a beating even at that size. Im sure if it died from fighting it would look way worse than it does and i think the stomach is open as the other fish would have started eating it there after it had died. It could be something bacterial because of the redness around the stomach and fin, hopefully its nothing serious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 2 x cf 1200's 50% weekly water changes filters cleaned 6 monthly, fed on colourbits,bloodworm and growing nicely. Snap... Same setup as I have in my 550L 5 footer but I only do 30% weekly changes as I dont have discus. I would still love to see a pic of 13 x L018 Living happily together in the one tank. Its an impossible pic to take i know but surely you could get get 3 or 4 in one shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humvee Posted June 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 It could be something bacterial because of the redness around the stomach and fin, hopefully its nothing serious I checked the other 2 gold nuggets in the tank, and at the moment both appear to be happy and healthy with no redness around the stomach area. Is there anything else that I should be doing or checking for to make sure that the same thing doesn't happy to my remaining nuggets? Does anyone have pics of a pleco that has been fighting with its tank mates? I'm having a few doubts that fighting was what has caused this because I'm sure I would have noticed it and I thought it would have happened sooner rather than being in the tank for nearly a week. I have 13 gold nuggets 6 cardinals and 8 adult discus in a 550L tank, I have very little aggression and no fatalities. I would love to see this too. How big are your nuggets? How far apart did you get them? How many hiding places do you have in the tank for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 I would lay money on the fact that jim r doesn't have an SAE in with his 13 L018. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 You are right Kiwiplymouth I do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 You are right Kiwiplymouth I do not. You are a man of few words jim r :lol: Would you ever contemplate adding SAE to your discus and L018 tank?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 NO. I would not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.