Just wondering how you all do it?

[Jenna23]

You may not see the sailfin pleco sucking on the slime of the bichirs during lights on, but it probably did it during lights off. You bichirs were probably got stress out from the pleco and died. Adults bichirs are prone to being attack by the plecos than smaller bichirs. Smaller bichirs are sometimes being ignored as they move faster and can hide.

Your right. I did see my pleco do it the other day, and the slimier the better in the pleco's book. I had a snowflake eel once (about 5 years ago) and noticed discolored spots on it one day. I took a good look and my pleco was just lovin life suckin the heck out of it. So i got rid of it. But I didn't really put a lot of thought into it doing the same thing to my bichirs (duh moment ).

 

[King-eL]

Your right. I did see my pleco do it the other day, and the slimier the better in the pleco's book. I had a snowflake eel once (about 5 years ago) and noticed discolored spots on it one day. I took a good look and my pleco was just lovin life suckin the heck out of it. So i got rid of it. But I didn't really put a lot of thought into it doing the same thing to my bichirs (duh moment ).

All you need now is to get rid of those plecos and continue on bichirs.

 

[Jenna23]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Burbotman]

Good Luck and keep asking questions. We all learn and share on this site.

 

[Rockbass6]

You didn't mention anything about the JD, but he could stress them out too, I have had ones that are both shy and some that were punks. Some fish you could look to keep as tankmates are bigger ctenopoma and maybe severums, they are layed back, kind of like the bichirs. Ctentopoma keep that primitive look, and severums can lighten up the tank. Pleco was probably a contributor to the problem, but it could of been a number of things, just keep reading and try and limit the amount of things that can go wrong,fish die, even the best fish keepers have losses. Remember keeping stress down, clean water(better filtration is always better), quarantine (new fish), and live foods to a minimum those are the things I try to help limit the things down that can go wrong with my setup.(as they can bring in parisites and disease.)
Stress is the #1 killer, remember that if you ever go SW. haha
Good luck with your polys!

 

[jstavis]

Is your big 10" frontosa a male? I just had to get rid of a big male because he was literally picking up a 16" ornate and tossing him around the tank by the tail. Didn't seem to be injuring him, but the poor guy just took it. Just a thought...

 

[Cholly]

Substrate? I seem to remember something about a bichir eating gravel and being unable to pass it.

 

[Cohazard]

All you need now is to get rid of those plecos and continue on bichirs.

all the guys in the pleco forum just gasped


L200 aka Green Phantom plecos are great with bichirs too because they are big time veggie eaters so all you have to do is keep some romaine lettuce, or cucumber, sweet potato, etc... in the tank and they'll never mess with bichirs.