Does pleco behavior vary with sex?

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DHarris

DHarris

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 17, 2015
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Last month I ended up with a beautiful Blue Eye Cochliodon, roughly a foot in length. It was pricey but worth it and it's be perfectly behaved with my other plecos.

Walked into one of my LFS earlier in the week and they had a pair of blue eyes CHEAP. I held off on adding another but while wrestling with the decision and observing them, it seemed that I was able to differentiate the sexes.

Judging by what I saw different in these two, I'm thinking the one I currently have is a female.

Not that I am, but if I was going to add a second for the sake of this topic, would I be better off with another female or a male? Didn't know if males are generally more territorial or aggressive or are both sexes basically the same in their behavior.

Really curious to hear experiences of anyone who has both sexes!

Thanks.
 
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I've never owned more than one blue eye at a time so can't say for sure how they behave but I have colonies of many other plecos and males are typically more territorial for sure. However, that's with each other when they fight for caves. They'll generally chase females away but will actually fight with other males. On the other hand, my females aren't as territorial since they don't cave as much but they also get feisty with other females but simply run from males.

If I had a choice, I'd try to get a male and female. Who knows...you might get lucky and breed them
 
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Go grab the other two. I don't see any major problems housing the 3 of them together.
 
Just went back to the shop. The small female sold, male is still there.
The price is so cheap, I'm tempted.
Have just heard the horror stories of Blue Eyes, though mine is perfectly behaved.
 
I saw that, which is what gave me the most concern.

I'd love to know what the setup looked like that that Blue Eye came from. Not sure if it makes a whole lot of difference or not, but I've added so much wood to my tank lately that the whole thing looks like root tangles and everyone seems to have their own spots.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here keep more than one together successfully. I've seen videos of tanks with several that seem fine. I wonder why some work and other turn out so bad.

Leaning on the side of adding a second being a bad idea but still tempted...
 
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