aquarium murder mystery

[neonmadness]

this morning, i found my pleco dead, all torn and beat up with a long horizantal cut across his belly with his guts falling out. who could have killed him? i have no idea who would have done it, but im almost positive it wasnt the blue acara(who i highly doubt could have killed it if it wanted to) or the oscar since hes extremely peacful. the pike can get aggressive, and occasionally chases around the acara and pictuses, but ive never seen him go after the pleco. could it have been the sailfin? please help if you can, ive been wanting to put in more plecos but i dont want to buy them if they just get killed.

[fish_freak]

My money is on the pike for sure. It is probably the only fish with teeth enough to gut a pleco

[fishcatch22]

I agree with FF.

[wataugachicken]

what other kind of decorations and plants do you have in your tank? i recently came across a thread in a pleco forum where the fish had gotten scared and become entangled on some plant roots so badly that they had to be cut away from the little plec, who had fins torn off, deep scratches, and a cut into the abdominal cavity. is it possible that the fish spooked or was chased and something like this happened?

Generally mean cichilds will only pluck out eyes, they can't do much more b/c of the tough 'armor' of the plecs.

common and sailfin plecs will not fight each other unless they are sparring over food (not serious) or when they are larger and are put in the same tank with another, large strange pleco. tankmates who are friendly don't suddenly fight to the death.

[Corbin]

is is possible it got spooked and swam past a rock or sharp object and cut it self?

[liv2padl]

you'll never know for sure and anyones guess is as good as anothers. if you put a gun to my head though, i'd vote for the pike.