Pl*co death...

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Vaulen

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Jun 6, 2005
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Auburn-War Eagle
Hello, I am new to the forum, and I have a 29 gallon tank with an Oscar, Pacu, three tinfoil barbs, and a recently dead pl*co, which are all going into a 55 gallon aquarium soon, except for the pl*co. They're all 3 inches or less so they can tolerate just a few more, hopefully, days in the tank. Anyways, I've had my setup for almost 2 months, and I've had the fish I currently have for about 6 weeks. I was surprised to see that my pl*co died yesterday. I had noticed the day before that he was sitting long amounts of time in certain spots, which was unusual since he was young and pretty much always active. I noticed that his fins were tattered and ragged, but I didn't know what to think of that, but aggressive behavior from other fish was definitely not a reason. I had put a piece of driftwood from a forested area behind my house in the tank a week before. I had boiled and got it waterlogged in one day. I don't think that was a cause for his death, but I'm just throwing it out there. I use floating fish food, and he never swam upside down to eat some(my fish ravage the surface when it's feeding time, and don't leave any food left uneaten). I regularly put an algae wafer in the tank, which I worried the pl*co wouldn't get to before the other fish found it. I put it in the tank once at night, but I don't know who got to it first. I really couldn't tell if it was eating. So, my greatest suspicion of its death is starvation, which I've read is a common cause of death for pl*cos. Here are some questions I have about these fish.

How can you tell if they're eating?
What are some things I can do to make sure that my future pl*co is eating?
How often should they be fed? with algae wafers? My friend never bought algae wafers for his pl*co, and it's grown 4 inches and doing fine. I never see it eat.
Thanks for your help.
 

Swimfins

This is as good as it gets.
Pacu can get to 3 to 4 feet. Oscar 14 inches or so. Your 55g will not last long. Tinfoil barbs can get huge too. (you may want to return them)

Some pleco die from starvation, as I understand it, they are wild caught, and do not tolerate shipping. The necessary bacteria that they need to digest food is not present and they refuse to eat and eventually die. Ottocinclus are another fish that are prone to this kind of 'shipping shock.'

What are your water levels re: amonia, nitrite, nitrate?
 
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asianhellokitty

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Jun 6, 2005
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Canada
If I were you I would buy algae wafers for it to feed on or frozen spirulina. These both sink so if your pleco is like mine they are mainly bottom feeders and will eat. The reason you don't see them eat is because they naturally don't eat until night time when the lights are off. Your pleco could've had fin rot and died from that, you can buy medications for them if you see tattered up fins. If you don't want to spend the money on the food you can feed them cucumbers or lettuce, they love veggies ^_^ anyways I hope that helps ^_^
 
Nov 15, 2004
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Your best bet is to return the Pacu and go for a larger than 55g tank. For an oscar with three tinfoils I would suggest 90 gals minimum.

Plecos normally are not notorius algae eaters anyway, so algae is among the foods but mainly plecos are bottom-feeding waste-eaters. Like fish heads, un-eaten foods and so on.....Algae wafers are good as well.
 
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TONO

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Jan 5, 2005
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You probably have alot of ammonia and nitrite in your water. A 55 gallon won't be enough for all those fish.
 

Vaulen

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Jun 6, 2005
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Auburn-War Eagle
55 gallon tank...

I understand the 55 gallon tank will not hold all my fish once they are full grown. I'm going to trade in the tinfoils eventually, sooner than the other fish. I'm not going to keep these fish until they are full grown. I will trade them in once I have to move, which is relatively soon. Once again, I understand that pacus are GIGANTIC fish, and oscars will grow to a hefty size, I'm not keeping these fish forever. I understand also, that "fish are not disposable." I will either trade these fish in for smaller fish or credit, or give them to my biology teacher at school, who has the proper materials and space requirements for any fish anybody gives him. Space is limited at home as well as in a dorm room and an apartment, and it may be until after college when I can get an appropriate size tank for these big fish.

Also, I must defend myself for buying these fish, and for putting these fish in a 29 gallon tank. At first when I started out in fishkeeping, I thought my friend had the coolest fish in the world, and I thought his tank was perfect(I like his fish still). I thought it was fine because he had several aquariums around the house and it seemed that his family was experienced with fish. He has a 6 inch oscar, 7 inch pacu, 7 inch pl*co, and a 7 inch albino catfish in a 29 gallon tank. I didn't know anything about fishkeeping at first so I used his example. I then started posting on forums and receiving comments about getting a bigger tank for my fish, which were much, MUCH smaller than my friend's fish. Believe me, I have tried numerous times to convince him of getting either a bigger tank, or new fish. Even so, I'm glad I realized early on that my fish are too big for a 29.

Once again, my fish are not going to reach full size, and I'm going to trade in my tinfoils once the time comes. My fish will be far from outgrowing the tank by the time I'm going to trade in the oscar, pacu, and pl*co. I am going to get these kinds of fish in the future, when I have the required tank space. I will not put these kinds of fish in a 55 g again. I am going to buy smaller fish that will not exceed 5 inches in the future.



Thanks
 
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