Plecos and other fish's slime coat

JarredDarque · Post by **JarredDarque** » 14 Feb 2006, 10:07

ok, I am plannin on starting up a new tank soon, with a bichir, and I would like a pleco. People have had problems with plecos eating the slime coat of of gar and bichirs, ending up in the fish's death.

Are there any armored type plecos that are not likely to get attached ot the taste of fish slime (when I mean armored, I mean something that can take a few jabs from a predator type fish and not feel it)

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 14 Feb 2006, 10:42

Slime-coat "attacks" that I've read about are all suggest that this is caused by the pleco not getting enough protein in it's food.

If it's been fed properly, you shouldn't have a problem.

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Mats

JarredDarque · Post by **JarredDarque** » 14 Feb 2006, 17:49

ok, and t his would be helped with suplementing with things like sinking shrimp pellets, frozen foods (i.e. leftovers from the other fish?)

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 14 Feb 2006, 17:54

Yes, or just algae wafers would work fine too. The so called algae wafers often have 30-40% protein in them.

From what I understand, most people who've had this problem has hardly fed their plecos at all... If you only let them eat what little algae grows in an established tank, they will be quite hungry after some time [in nature, they have an almost constant supply of food], so they'll use whatever is available for food.

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Mats