Topic: Pleco/algae eater?

[Laken_03]

I have some questions for you guys...
This may be the dumbest q ever asked on this website... But anyways...
1. What is the difference between a pleco and an algae eater?
2. Should I get one or the other and put it in with my O just for a buddy and to help keep the tank a little cleaner? (He is in a 55 gallon and pretty darn agressive!)
3.  I think there was a post  a while back saying how a  pleco killed an oscar.  could this really happen?  My O is my buddy and I dont want anything tho happen to him.  Even though he is as mean as a snake!

Thanks,
Laken

[syphon]

well generally when people refer to algae eater they are referring to the common pleco because they are the most widespread.  Algae eater just refers to a kind of fish where plecostomus is a species.  Generally plecos do a good job of cleaning up after oscars and I seriously doubt that a pleco has killed an oscar.  wether your O will put up w/ a tankmate is a roll of the dice.  btw plecos are heavily armored wich helps protect them from beatings...Brian

[Laken_03]

Thanks that was a perfect answer!  Should I get a common Pleco or just a regular Pleco?
Laken

[ezdave]

I believe a common pleco is a regular pleco

[Laken_03]

Oh, my mistake! :-[ so should I get one?

[ezdave]

I have at least one, usually two in each of my tanks and  have had zero problems with any of them
If you want one go for it. I can't foresee any problems at this time

[JohnsOscars]

  btw plecos are heavily armored wich helps protect them from beatings...Brian

I wish that their fins were armored..my 8" tiger O has a habit of tearing up my 13" pleco's dorsal fin.

[RED TERROR]

I wish that their fins were armored..my 8" tiger O has a habit of tearing up my 13" pleco's dorsal fin.

I don't keep plecos with my aggressive cichlids because of this. If I need a scavenger for a tank I just go with a catfish . Almost always one of the synodontis species. I perfer Synodontis Eupterus because they grow to about 8 inches and can hold their own with cichlids twice their size.

[JohnsOscars]

I wish that I had gotten one of those instead of the pleco. :-[

[Demseyfan]

A pleco can kill an oscar if the pleco is large enough and the O is small enough.  I had a friend who had a 10" pleco kill 2 blood parrots (4" each).  He just kept beating on them with his armored body and when they were weak enough he started sucking on them.  Wouldn't have believed it myself if i hadn't seem him do it one day.

[Laken_03]

YIKES!  So should I get a smaller pleco?  Or just one the same size as my O?
Thanks,
Laken

[Demseyfan]

For the most part i think the pleco killing the oscar is a long shot unless the sizes are very different.

YIKES!  So should I get a smaller pleco?  Or just one the same size as my O?
Thanks,
Laken

It depends on the size and temperment of the O.  Most of the time O's won't bother a pleco and they will more or less coexist by ignoring each other so you could get away with a small pleco.  If you have one of those rare O's that just like to beat on anything then I would go for something about the same size or a little bigger.  Plecos can cop an attitude to.  I have a 5" JD and a 5" white spot pleco and the pleco is the king of the tank.  If the pleco wants to be somewhere and the JD is in the way he goes after him and moves him out of the way.  I used to have a large mouth bass years ago with pleco and fed the bass big sucker minnows and the pleco learned that the minnows moved pretty slowly so he would swim over them and if they didn't move he would settle on them and start sucking.  I was always wondering why my minnows looked like they were descaled until i saw him do it.  This is all just a long story to say that generally plecos will learn to defend themselves and that is why they make good tankmates for most cichlids.  Plecos are fairly armored too so while a cichlid can take chunks of fin it is much harder to actually damage the pleco.

[Laken_03]

Well, my O is one mean machine when it comes to other fish, but I dont want the pleco to kill my O. So I guess I should get one about the same size and just watch and see what happens?
Thanks again,
Laken

[Demseyfan]

I wouldn't worry about the pleco killing the O.  If your O was like 1-2" and you had an established large pleco i still probably wouldn't worry about it.  The only time i've ever heard of it is with blood parrots and as far as i'm concerned they should be considered useless fish and not even be classified as cichlids.  I've seen several and they are by far the wimpiest most submissive cichlid i've ever heard of.  If your O is somewhat of a bully then there is really no chance he'll let the pleco beat him and it would be very, very rare anyway.  If your O is in the 4-7" range i would think a 3-4" pleco would be fine.  Smaller would probably be OK too but just to ease your concerns go with a 3-4" one.  Don't stress out on this too much.  There is a better chance the O will pick on the pleco but realize he can't really do too much and then leave it alone or the pleco will learn to fight back a little and then the O will leave it alone.

[Laken_03]

oh ok, thanks alot!  I'll probably get one this weekend, do you think I shoud re-arrange the tank to confuse my O, or wait untill the "orage stuff" is gone or just go ahead and put the pleco in there?
Thanks,
Laken