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What is attacking my pleco?


Jaide

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I have a 20cm Royal and either a young krib or young discus is attacking him (maybe the figher but I don't think it would be him). The rest of the tank has catfish and neons so who is the culprit? I have only one krib and discus in the tank with him. There'a also a swordtail but I doubt he's the culprit.

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2 large upside down catfish and some cories.

I don't have anything in the tank big enough for him to hide under but the other day he tried to squeeze himself into a half flower pot and tends to hang out in one corner of the tank most of the time. He's not cleaning it much either. He's moping - he just doesn't seem happy.

He has a chunk missing from his dorsal fin. Not sure of the condition of his tail as I couldn't see it.

I haven't seen any fish hang around him except the krib once, but it didn't attack - was just checking out what this thing was stuck to the glass I think.

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I would put money on it being the krib, what size is it and is it m/f? also you should really have something for your plec to hide in eg. a piece of driftwood or a terracotta tube, thats what I use, the plec might clean the tank then coz he won't be so stressed.

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I would put money on it being the krib, what size is it and is it m/f? also you should really have something for your plec to hide in eg. a piece of driftwood or a terracotta tube, thats what I use, the plec might clean the tank then coz he won't be so stressed.

I agree plecos need somewhere to hide. He may have even damaged himself trying to force himself into the flower pot. A 20 cm royal is a big pleco but I'm sure a piece of PVC pipe (not the classiest looking ornament) or a large cave would help. You royal should also have at least one bit of bogwood in the tank to munch on as its part of their diet. If you put in more objects for the other fish to defend then there are less likely to be issues.

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Plec has his wood, it came with him when I bought him. The tank he came from didn't have any hiding places but I can see that's what he's looking for so will have to try to find something big enough to fit him - I have a large bell that might work, if I tip it on it's side. Finding large hidey places decorations is next to impossible in NZ, every shop seems to have the same decorations and most of them aren't practical. I'll see if I can get hold of some piping from somewhere.

The tank is a large corner unit - I don't know how to work out the litres though.

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The fighter hangs around the top, he doesn't go anywhere near plec.

I added the bell to the tank, it's filled with holes though as it's meant to be a wreck but will have to do until I can find something permanent. Hopefully he'll like it, the cories seem to anyway.

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I have a 20cm Royal and either a young krib or young discus is attacking him (maybe the figher but I don't think it would be him). The rest of the tank has catfish and neons so who is the culprit? I have only one krib and discus in the tank with him. There'a also a swordtail but I doubt he's the culprit.

I took the word figher a meaning there was a fighter in there and it does appear there is!

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Yep, there is - not sure what the other two are on about :roll:

Anyway, he's not remotely interested in the bell but I have managed to get hold of some piping which I'll put into the tank this weekend :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'd love to use bamboo - don't think I'd be able to find any big enough but it would look great in the tank.

Well I found some drainpipe (pale green colour too) for plec to use and it's been in the tank for 2 days - so far he has half put himself in it (the back half) and now he's currently sitting on top of it.... :-?

Oh well, it's there if he wants to use it, but he doesn't seem to mind just being out and about and being bowled over by the squeakers :roll:

On the plus side, at least the cories like the pipe :thup:

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  • 1 month later...

I'm not sure, I noticed him hiding in the back with ripped fins and tail and assumed it was my krib now picking on him once her previous victim was gone (she's a vindictive cow who killed my large female swordtail and then had moved on to my discus but discus was too fast for her so I wasn't worried), so, I expected she had found another victim in plec so removed her promptly from the tank. But he stayed in the same spot so I assumed he wasn't aware she was gone or that something else was having a go - I had recently introduced some black widow tetras but they generally harrass each other not other fish but was watching closely just in case.

Plec moved toward the front of the tank so I figured he was coming right - but tonight I noticed he was in the same spot as yesterday.... :tears:

I guess he was sick and I didn't realise assuming his hiding was due to being picked on.

He was lovely - all head and not much body but so pretty &c:ry

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That sucks :cry:

Yep :tears:

Black widows can be really aggressive though, my mate had 3 of them and they killed 2 fully grown angels and his algae eaters.

I researched them carefully before buying and they can pick on slow moving fish with flowing tails but generally they only harrass each other. I asked the seller if she had any incidence of them picking on other fish and she said no and to be honest, I have only seen them harrass each other and none of the others but they were definitely on my radar to go just in case because no-one picks on plec :an!gry

I have to assume it was krib and perhaps plec just didn't get over the beating that she dished out to him to point of becoming ill, or maybe he was ill and so picked on - I really am not sure.

Kribs are meant to be community fish but that female was just mean :x

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