Breeding pair with Pleco?

[Mercury2234]

Greetings all,

I have a pair of cons that breed 100+ babies...they are in a 30g by themselves with the fry.

Would a pleco be ok with them? I know they are EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE when they are paired up, but I was wondering if a pleco would be ok. If so, which ones do you recommend? Perhaps an armored pleco?

I am just looking for something to clean up some waste... Also, Would cherry shrimps or ghost shrimps be acceptable?

 

[enwelz]

I am not sure about the pleco, but I would ventrue i guess that the shrimps would get eaten... My non mating cichlids eat any shrimp they can get ahold of.

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

my pleco was nipped numerous times on his fins by my convicts even when he was in the 150 gallon tank and hid for half of the day so i'd say no theres no reason to have a pleco in your tank anyway unless you like the look of plecos all plecos are armored but there fins are not nor are there eyes

shrimp would probably be eaten as well


the best cleaning crew in a freshwater tank is a good syphon hose and yourself

 

[Cybercyde]

For what it may be worth, we've got a ~6" pleco in our 29 along with the proven pair. While they occasionally nipped its fins, the pleco would actually invert and bite the cons when harassed too much.

They're currently in a bit of a stalemate. Pleco will venture about the tank and even competes for food at the surface once in a while. The large male con will more or less just posture and twitch at him, then one of the two concedes.

For comparison, said pleco will come to the surface and compete for pellets/flake/shrimp when he's bothered enough to leave his log in the daytime. Before the fry, had it trained to take food at its own corner of the tank.

Agressive tank? When the 4 original convicts went in, there was a rasbora and male guppy in the tank that initially chased and nipped at them. (Said nipping was shortlived - as were the community fish )

Best bet is likely skipping the cleaning crew, and just getting used to that unexpected bite when you're trying to re-bury the ugj/turn over the substrate. It always amuses me when a 1" long fish charges and attacks my arm with every intention of winning the fight.