will gibbiceps suck on my fishes?

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 29 May 2003, 11:14

Hi,
I want to buy a gibbiceps and put it for a while in my 300l C. A. Cichlids tank.But i recently read at a site this:"be carefull because Glyptoperichthis gibbiceps may suck on the sides of medium-large sized fishes"I dont think that this is true because i have seen a lot of times this pleco in tanks with cichlids and all the fishes seamed ok.But this tanks were large and i hadnt any Glyptoperichthis sp. before.Iam afrai of this because 6months ago i had bought a 4" Panaque nigrolineatus and i put him in a 100l tank.After 3months, one morning i saw all the other inhabbitants(1 pearl gourami5",a platydoras costatus(almost dead),an altispinosa cichlid(whithout fins at all)and a clown pleco(ok at all)) at a very bad contition.

Thanks in advance

clint8 · Post by **clint8** » 29 May 2003, 14:22

Hi Kostas,

The only experience i have with gibbi's sucking on my fish are on my beautiful discus. Only when they grow a bit larger say around 15cm do they suck on my discus's skin as there are lots of mucous found there. By then i tend to take them out and replace them with smaller ones. Reason i use gibbi's are because there are so hardy and can withstand extremely high temperatures. I keep my discus's at 30C-32C.
I've also had larger gibbi's in a display tank (with cardinal's, rummy's,etc...) and they seem to do fine.
Hope this helps

Cheers,
Clint

Plec0maniac · Post by **Plec0maniac** » 29 May 2003, 17:08

hi I believe that the sucking of muccus starts when the gibby gets bigger and doesnt have enough food! true though that they suck against discus..

but when it comes to other fishes they dont destrub them, unless that fish is very weak, this is the time take advantage of the situation

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 30 May 2003, 02:37

Back when i had my tsn, my gibbie and common would constantly suck on him, he was about 13 inches and they were about three, They also killed a jurapari one time, he was only in there for a little while, but contrary to what iv just read by the rest of you they seem to have stopped with age and now leave all the fish alone. I'd say american cichlids are deffinately quick enough to get away from him if needed though so it should be fine.

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 02 Jun 2003, 18:59

Hi,
Thank you all for the advice.
Clint8 write:

By then i tend to take them out and replace them with smaller ones

I dont want to change fishes as they grow because i want them to recognise me as their master and to lay on my hand and eat their tablet as my Liposarcus do.Will Glyptoperichthis do this?How large will he grow?

Thanks in advance

Post by **Silurus** » 02 Jun 2003, 19:09

Gibbys will grow to about the same size as <i>Liposarcus</i> (about 40 cm).