This might be a really stupid question about a pleco?

Question

i know they eat veggies but will they eat meat as well? and would they kill another fish to eat them? anytime i find a dead and eaten fish in my tank it is in the early morning so it happened-- i assume- over night and the only fish that i can figure that would "hunt" at night is the pleco. on the other hand they are usually a newer addition to the tank so it could be they die of the stress of a new tank and just get eaten during the night. the most "aggressive" fish i have in there are 2 barbs-one regular tiger and one green. do they change when the lights go out? they seem fine during the day. just wondering if i should throw a bit of steak in there at night to satisfy whoever is REALLY hungry?? and wondering if that pleco is maybe tired of being a vegetarian....

thank you fish people
i didnt want to blame the barbs cause they have been really good during the day-- i did have more but they were killed when the redtail shark (the catfish kind) went on a murder spree-- he was jailed and then he committed suicide i do plan to get more barbs and have learned that the "sharks" really are aggressive i know i know bad fish owner blah blah blah...
anyway, this happened a few days after the fish were introduced so im pretty sure its not because they didnt float in the bag long enough. and i guess its not the pleco which is a good thing! but strange things must happen after the lights go out.... this is the first time it has happened since the shark problem and the stupid guppy babies are holding on.... i dont have plants for them to hide either... i know "dont mix those types of fish!!" bad fish owner again....

Answer 1

When a fish dies a few days after being added to a tank, it is usually because they were not acclimated to the tank properly.

I know, blah, blah, blah....

But, if your tank water is more than .5 pH different than the water the fish has been living in at the fish store, it will cause the fish to go into pH shock. Most of the time this is fatal (it takes a few days), some of the time the fish will recover but be damaged and never really be well again.

The best way to acclimate new fish is to open the bag and roll the top down to create a ring of air that will allow the bag to float in the tank. Add a half cup of your tank water and wait 20 minutes. Add another half cup of your tank water and wait another 20 minutes. Do this two more times and then net the fish out and release it into your tank. Discard the water in the bag, never, ever put fish store water into your home aquarium.

If you do not have a holding tank for new fish, you are still playing with fire. Some diseases do not show up for quite a while. You might be contaminating your community tank with the new fish without even knowing it. New fish should be kept in a holding tank for at least 3 weeks to allow parasites and diseases to present and be medicated before moving the new fish to your community tank.

Plecos are very opportunistic scavengers and will eat anything that they find on the bottom that has nutritional value. It is true that some are carnivorous, but they are not commonly found in local fish stores and do not attack healthy fish. These are the very pricey hard to find species.

Some of these actually have two little hooks in the front of their mouth that they use to hook and remove snails from their shells. They are known as hypancistrus plecos.

Answer 2

Well, different types of plecos have different nutritional requirements. Some eat veggies / algae, some eat driftwood and yes, some are carnivorous. However, most of the commonly available plecos - common, rubberlips, bristlenoseds - are vegetarian (many will eat some driftwood also). Even carnivorous plecos are unlikely to hunt, and are easily fed with shrimp pellets and other fish foods.
It is more likely that the fish died overnight, and it is possible that the corpse was scavenged by the other fish and / or the pleco, but unlikely that it was killed by them.
Anyway, find out what type of pleco you have to ensure that it is not a carnivorous type.

Do you acclimate your fish? Skipping this step can result in fish death. When you bring it home, float the bag for about 10 minutes in the aquarium water. Then open the bag and add a half cup of aquarium water to the water in the bag. Keep doing this until the bag is nearly full, then net the fish, release it into the tank, and chuck the water in the bag down the sink.

Also, your barbs are schooling fish, and each type should be in a group of at least 5 fish. They will also be less aggressive towards other fish, because they can take out their aggression on each other.

Answer 3

Well I work at a Petstore and Plecos are mainly vegetarians. If you have only 2 barbs that are aggressive and the rest community fish, most likely it was them. It all depends on what type of fish you have in your tank. Pleco's hardley ever eat anything dead anyways. Your best bet is to take the barbs out of the tank and seperate them or if you have a warranty take them back to the store.

Make sure when you buy fish you don't know what their compatibility with other fish that you ask the person helping you. Most tropical fish are put into 6 different categories.
1. Goldfish (Most the time Goldfish can only be with Goldfish unless in a large tank)
2. African Ciclids(African Ciclids can only be with the same breed)
3. South American Ciclids( Have to be grouped together. Sometimes Oscars have to be kept singulary)
4. Semi-Aggressive (That would be sharks, barbs, angelfish, some catfish, and gouramis)
5. Community Fish (This would be plattys, guppies, tetras, mollies)
6. Vegie Eaters (Different plecos and chinease algae eaters)

* Each group must stay with their own kind, besides the vegie eaters

Answer 4

they won't eat any other fish, or meat. The dead fish most likely died because of stress if they were new fish like you said. The tiger barbs could have done it too, they are known to be aggressive. The personality of a fish does change during the night, no matter if a fish is nocturnal or not, when the lights go out, the fish can't see anything outside the tank glass, therefore they seem to be more daring. My fish for example swim to the surface and play up there during the night, when the lights are on, the only swim up to the surface to splash some water when they are playing, then swim back down.

Answer 5

A pleco is not vegetarian. He is a scavenger he will eat algae, zucchini, broccoli stems, missed fish flakes, fish small enough to fit in his mouth, dead fish, wood... Exactly what depends on the species, age and size. I've never heard of a pleco killing and eating a fish that it couldn't swallow. They will eat the dead, and some times suck on the dying, or really slow fish. If you are really concern about feeding a pleco there are meaty sinking pellets you can throw in before lights out. Also a zucchini slice, or broccoli stems would be eaten. (Note that pleco prefer them a bit soft so give him a day or 2.) Often a signs a pleco is hungry are that he has completely cleaned the tank, and is active during day light feedings. (Mine will come out, and grab flakes off the bottom.)

Answer 6

Plecos eat plants only, However, when they are very hungry, or if they get large, they can become aggressive and attack other fish in the tank. This is very uncommon though, and I have never seen it myslef, but I have heard of it happening. Basically, they just kill the other fish out of aggression,.

Answer 7

identity persist with the community tank and proceed stockin it with communals simply by fact cichlids require alot of artwork and lots extra room and that i understand you will desire to not positioned any of those fish with convicts while they breed which they maximum in all probability will and idk approximately EYs under no circumstances had them. in case you relatively do want a cichlid coated i recommend you staring at Ram Cichlids they constantly did super in my community tanks idk if this helped yet stable success!

Answer 8

A Pleco is strictly a vegetarian

Answer 9

i think it was the barbs....my barbs killed my pleco, at least thats what i think....