Aggressive Bristlenose?

[divingne1]

Is your Bristlenose Pleco aggressive? I just got one and witnessed him bullying the cory cats several times. Strange behavior from a pleco right? or wrong?

[Rbishop]

slightly odd...what size tank and decor?

[Weezer]

We had 2 in our 80 gal. and the mean one would take food away for no reason, and if they would happen to cross it looked like he would try to bite the other one, after 2 weeks he went back to the store.. I asked the owner if having 2 would be a problem since i had read that there could be an issue, he said no problem, 1 does a good job anyway......:)

[divingne1]

slightly odd...what size tank and decor?

55g and lots of real and fake plants along with a huge piece of driftwood. He is in the tank with a rubberlip pleco.

[jpappy789]

I had one who would sometimes bully my corys come feeding time but nothing too bad...

[FishyFry]

wow. I would have thought he and the other Pleco would have gone a few rounds.

[divingne1]

No, he and the rubberlip have even hung out together...when I say bully the cory cats, he doesn't bite them or anything, he just pushes them away from the food very aggressively but only when there is food. My poor cories never mess with anyone and they take the brunt of everyone's aggression. The GBR give them hell when they have eggs or babies.

[Marinemom]

That's odd. Most of the the time a bristlenose pleco is very peaceful towards any tank mates. Of course there is the possibility that you got an oddball.

Marinemom

[jpappy789]

I'm guessing that's what happened. You got the very rare aggressive bn. If there aren't any physical damages to the corys and they are still getting food I wouldn't worry too much. If things change though you may need to remove him...

[magakitty]

never had a problem with mine

[divingne1]

I think he is just a pig and doesn't want competition for food. I target feed the corys to make sure they eat...the other fish in the tank are aggressive eaters. The BN is a cutie anyway.

[Star_Rider]

I s it a male BN??

I find the males are less tolerant of other bottom dwellers especially other male bn's

[Cyberpaddy66]

Our female BN Zane (we didn't know it's sex when we named it) isn't aggressive, she just wafts her tail at any passing fish while she's eating. I once saw Luna the YoYo loach try and move her away from some food and she just did a quick 180 and batted the loach away.

[kimmisc]

My BN pleco bullies everything around that comes near her food. She flaps around and swats them away, and she occassionally will latch onto the side of a platy with her mouth. She doesn't hurt any of them though... not that I've seen. No battle scars.

[lucky777ca]

I too have a BN pleco that becomes pushy when feeding the tank. The Clown Pleco pushes the BN pleco around, while the BN Pleco pushes the otos and the cories around, as well as the Mollies and Emperors. They are fighting over the algae wafer that I drop for the otos :S

[divingne1]

OK...sounds pretty common then. He hasn't left any marks or noticable damage to the corys so until this happens, he must just be protecting his food.