Pleco just picked a fight with convict?

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Technico

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Jun 24, 2012
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Okay, the pleco decidesld to like tail whip my convict in the face, I have a semi gold colored convict with faded stripes, when the pleco hit him all of a sudden my convicts stripes turned pitch black and his fins shot straight up in the air. First off, I wanna know why his stripes are fading again, and second why on earth did my PLECO try to fight my convict!

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Technico

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I don't get why my convicts stripes became so vivid! I loved it i was like "finally!" Idk how to keep his colors dark... I mean at first I was kinda bummed that he was greenish and not white or blue, but his green turned a light goldfish color and I'm just hoping her* stripes come in darker.

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JamieMonster

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Mar 16, 2012
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Plecos crack other fish in the face with their tails to tell them to back off- whether being picked on, or over food. They're usually very passive and docile, but, not push overs, and can get kind of territorial. I had to move my common pleco to a different tank with smaller fish as he was starting to pick fights with my goldfish over the food in the tank- The goldfish are pretty large and very pushy about getting food, the fish in the other tank are not. In a tank where he is the biggest fish, he is calm, docile, and happy- in a tank where he feels he has to compete for food, he gets more aggressive. I don't know how old or large yours is, but, the one I have is probably about 7 or 8 (I inherited him with a tank I got recently)... to my understanding, they get more territorial/sassy with age. I'm not entirely sure about your convict's stripes- maybe he colored up more when feeling aggressive and being ready to fight, and faded back down when he perceived the threat to be over and he's now more docile?
 

livebearerfreak

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i have BN plecos, and my africans just leave them alone, at times they will pick on eachother but not alot.
 

Technico

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My convict is about 3 inches and my pleco is roughly 6 or 7 inches. He's the largest fish in my tank at this point in time, and he gets his own algae wafers and such. And I give my convict and tiger barbs bloodworms. The rest of.my fish simply eat scraps off the bottom or flakes. It's a very clean tank lol. Having a crayfish, a pleco, and corys to take care of the bottom. My fish all get along, until I seen that and was like... Uh oh hold on a second, cause the fish sorta know that the convict is king of the tank, I feel like they know not to pick on him, but that pleco attack was weird to see.

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Lillyan

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Jan 26, 2010
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Fish get dark from stress or breeding, my guess is that he darkened because of the stress and is now lightening up because he is safe again.
A pleco is going to be better equipped to protect himself against other fish, so he doesn't care who he slaps as log as the other fish isn't so big he can eat half of him.
 

Technico

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All I saw was my convict go into the log where the pleco was, like he usually does throughout the day, only this time I saw a tail slap push the convict out and then the pleco come out and dash toward the convict. Like it just happened...

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JamieMonster

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Mar 16, 2012
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All I saw was my convict go into the log where the pleco was, like he usually does throughout the day, only this time I saw a tail slap push the convict out and then the pleco come out and dash toward the convict. Like it just happened...

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Ahh- well, the pleco doesn't want the convict in his log. Simple as that. Could be that the convict bit him while in there, or, the pleco has just decided that is his log, and everyone else needs to stay out. Claiming territory over a cave like that is not uncommon for them... neither is fighting back when someone starts with them. As long as he isn't going wild around the tank picking fights, and charging other fish/latching them at will, I wouldn't worry about it. From my experience, they're usually pretty easy going.
 
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