Pleco likes Goldfish Slime Coat

[rbradbury]

I learned the hard way this weekend that large plecos can develope a taste for slime coat on fish. I never had a problem until two weeks ago when I added two new large fancy goldfish to my tank that came from an outdoor pond. Well my large pleco (12in) decided he liked the slime coating better than his algae waffers. I tried to keep him full but over this last weekend he succeeded at killing one of my large goldfish by sucking off all the slime coating and scales. For that unpardonable sin, I sent that bastard to living hell. He went in to the Convict Cichlid breeding tank to live out his life getting continuously picked on. roflmao

After this experience, I'm never adding a pleco to my gold fish tanks again.

[FisHobbyist]

lol. i had no idea they did that. although i have heard of plecos attacking smaller fish.

[NursePlaty]

prison for life lol

[bhughes]

Sorry you had to learn that the hard way. Long ago I had an algae eater latch on to on of my gold fish. It left a ulcer on the fishes side. Didn't live long after. Neither of them.

[FisHobbyist]

so wait is this just the slime coat of goldfish or can it happen to any fish? and do the plecos have this taste for their slime when theyre full grown?

[Erniec]

Yes I read about that many times, becareful of your discus, plecos will all so try to take off the slime coat off them, just google it

[rbradbury]

Has anyone's bristles nose plecos caused any problems or this is just isolated to regular plecos?

[ranchu]

Most of my friends in goldfish world do not have problem with bristles nose plecos. but i would not put my rare high quality goldfish with any plecos.

[WRabbit]

be careful of your discus, plecos will all so try to take off the slime coat off them
I can't imagine a healthy 4"-6" discus allowing a bristlenose to stick to it's side and nibble the slime coat. However, I have read several reports of this occurring. I'm sorry Robert's goldfish turned out to be another Pleco slime-coat case. Several of you may have seen Robert's goldfish at the DFWAPC meeting at Fish Gallery. Beautiful fish! Sorry, Robert.... :(

I currently have a 3.5" bristlenose (nice specimen!) in a 75g with ten 1.5"-3" discus. They have grown up together.... This thread hits a little too close to home. The 3.5" BN will be evicted and rehomed later today during the daily WC.

Jim

[Erniec]

I can't imagine a healthy 4"-6" discus allowing a bristlenose to stick to it's side and nibble the slime coat.

There have been sightings :)

YouTube - Pleco vs Discus

YouTube - Pleco Attack!

[ranchu]

Has anyone's bristles nose plecos caused any problems or this is just isolated to regular plecos?

Plecos that attacked the gold fish is BN pleco or just regular pleco?

[rbradbury]

It was a large (12in.) regular pleco that attacked my goldfish.

[erock]

Bristlenose plecos are considered safe. I have kept an adult bristlenose with both discus and goldfish at different times of my fishkeeping life and have never had a problem. It is the standard plecos that cause issues regardless of their size.

[ranchu]

It was a large (12in.) regular pleco that attacked my goldfish.

Thanks for the info. Some of my goldfish keeper friends keep BN with their goldfish. Just to make sure that it was not BN pleco was causing the problem.

[yblueskyy]

i have a problem too, 3 inches pleco sucked everything off one of my red texas flowerhorn fry that i imported fr Thai...pardon me, but i send him to hell already, next to my rose bush...there he rested ...

[WRabbit]

i have a problem too, 3 inches pleco sucked everything off one of my red texas flowerhorn fry that i imported fr Thai...pardon me, but i send him to hell already, next to my rose bush...there he rested ...Now that you're a member here, you can sell, trade, or give away fish instead of "sending them to hell" when they do something that is natural to them. I'm sure there are members who would have gladly taken the pleco off your hands.

Jim

PS: Welcome to dfwFishbox.

[Gumbie]

Well said, Jim!

[hungdang]

they only do that when they don't get feed enough! I used to have 6 plecos that I bought them when they was about 2'', and keep them with my goldfish and koi, but never have this happen because I feed them a lot! some of my friends didn't feed the pleco and they end up having this problem!

[rbradbury]

I feed my pleco good twice a day. Pleco. Went after the two.goldfish that came out of the pond.

[mackinthebox]

the goldfish probably tasted better than the algae wafers ;)
if anyone has this problem you could try feeding the pleco more meaty foods and see if that helps
theyre not exactly vegetarian, theyre catfish and love meat too
theyre omnivorous bottom feeders and will eat anything thats tastes and smells good to them!

[yblueskyy]

yeah i agree..:)

[pillierox1]

i feed so much that i never had any problems. i have bristlenose pleco and 2 l333 tiger plecos. i have tons of fish that are just to fat lol