How to dissolve agression problems?

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mr.bigglesworth

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Feb 19, 2012
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I have a pleco that is really mean and I need some creative ideas on how to calm him down? As far as I know he only gets REALLY bad around food, although hes kind of an all around jerk, even though he has a nice round belly. A little fat too. He spends more time defending about a square foot of space w/food in the center than he does eating the actual food. He attacked my smaller male so bad that the poor guy is missing a big piece of his lip. I feel so bad for him :( the big jerk is my 6" male bushynose and the injured male is 3". His body mass is 4x-5x the other guys though, the big 1 is really wide and the little guy is like a piece of slate, really compressed body. He attacks my cories, gobies, frogs, other bn plecos, rams, discus, gourami, oto, and a few I'm missing... he is really anti-social and he hides all day long, LOVES to watch me though. Especially when he checks to see if I have food. He has this little spot on my driftwood where you can only see his eyes poking out. also he's very sensitive to light. Big bully though. So I now go through ~10 algae wafers a day. The big guy eats most of it though. I put 2 in front the center, 2 in the left corner, and 1 in back the center. 2x a day. Nobody swims on the right side of my tank idk why though... I have 4 bushynose. 1 little baby longfinned albino, 2 male short fins, and 1 fm shortfin. 1", 3", 6", 2". In that order.
 

jpappy789

Plants need meat too
Feb 18, 2007
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10 algae wafers a day? That seems like way too much. I'm hoping you're feeding other things as well.

If it's becoming too much of a problem, the simple answer is to remove the fish. Male Ancistrus are territorial, but generally just among themselves.
 

jayla2251

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Jul 1, 2012
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You can also try and introduce more pleco hides or caves. He might be defending his own spot, so adding others would give an equal playing field.
 
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