Plecos safe with Tigrinus Catfish??
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Blackwater
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Plecos safe with Tigrinus Catfish??
How risky is it to put Plecos in with a Tigrinus??
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MatsP
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As long as the pleco is fairly large compared to the tigrinus, I should think that it's safe. [It's one of the recommended tankmates on the tigrinus page in the cat-eLog, so I expect that it's not immediately seen as a food-source].
Obviously, a 2" pleco with a 10" tigrinus will probably not work, but the other way around should be perfectly fine. Something like a , or just larger common pleco's (shouldn't be too hard to find some of them, as most LFS take back bigger specimens that have outgrown their current home). The big panaque species are good because they have larger bodies than some other genera, and that helps preventing an attack.
Obviously, the tigrinus will probably grow a bit faster than most pleco's, so it's a good idea to start with a rather large one, so that the tigrinus doesn't catch up to it too soon.
Keep the tigrinus well-fed, and it will be less likely to look for "other sources of food".
Finally, every fish has individiual traits, and it may be that your particular fish is extremely viscous or benign compared to others of the same specie. I can't tell that from your e-mail, obviously.
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Mats
Obviously, a 2" pleco with a 10" tigrinus will probably not work, but the other way around should be perfectly fine. Something like a , or just larger common pleco's (shouldn't be too hard to find some of them, as most LFS take back bigger specimens that have outgrown their current home). The big panaque species are good because they have larger bodies than some other genera, and that helps preventing an attack.
Obviously, the tigrinus will probably grow a bit faster than most pleco's, so it's a good idea to start with a rather large one, so that the tigrinus doesn't catch up to it too soon.
Keep the tigrinus well-fed, and it will be less likely to look for "other sources of food".
Finally, every fish has individiual traits, and it may be that your particular fish is extremely viscous or benign compared to others of the same specie. I can't tell that from your e-mail, obviously.
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Mats