Pleco's Bad Rep

[Hartzell]

Is it true that plecos should not be mixed with other fish 'coz they eat mucus coats? I have ten tanks and all have plecos to help me control algae. Tankmates are gars, clarias, silver aro, oscars, RTC, Asian RTC, Raphael cat, bumblebees, CK's, angels, silver dollars, as well as carp in ponds. Can anyone tell me which of my fish should not be housed with plecos? Thanks! :help:

 

[wataugachicken]

plecos only eat mucous/slime coats when they are starved. a well-fed pleco with plenty of bulk food in its diet (zucchini, spinach, etc) won't go after tankmates. as long as your tanks are big enough (almost all your fish either get big or should be kept in schools) there is no problem keeping plecos with them. just make sure they get more than algae to eat. common plecos get 18"-24"+. they can be kept in ponds, as long as they stay above 72 degrees or so.

chinese algae eaters, on the other hand, actually prefer slime coats and fish bits to algae as they get bigger. also, if your plecos do ever get hungry enough to latch on to a fish, from what i have heard it can be a tough habit to break once it starts. strictly hearsay, though.

 

[phaedraeos]

i agree with wataugachicken on the above about plecos

as far as CAE's, they definately tend to go for slime coats when older, but we've had great success keeping one with fast, bottom-dwelling fish. there are gouramis around the top of the tank, but the CAE doesn't ever get that high. the main fish on the bottom are african knives, a rainbow shark, a senegal bichir, 2 bumblebee cats, 2 pictus, an upsidedown catish, and believe it or not two plecos. while the CAE goes after them from time to time, I've never seen him catch any of them. the gouramis have always been unharmed.

just a personal account.

 

[monkey_toes]

There are two specific fish I've always heard shouldn't be kept with plecos: Discus and stingrays. Although I suspect the discus thing is myth (why would they be so attracted to discus and not other disc-shaped fish?), their may be some truth to the stingray issue. I think, though, it's more a case of plecos annoying rays than actually trying to eat off them.