pleco + ornate

[grmanrocks]

so , i did my research and came across no afrian algea eaters exept the ever elusive labeo. so i decided to try a plec. i have heard they suck on bichirs ( could be funny depending on how you say bichir) but did it neways .i just bought a little bulldog/rubberlip plec from petsmart and the worker(who has bichirs himelf) said that it sould be okay with my 3-4 inch baby ornate? what do you guys think? the plec is bout 1 inch now so i dont thinki there will be any issues will there?

 

[Infblue]

hard to say....imo i think pleco can do more harm faster than algae eater...some people have no problem with this combo, but i'm sure you've also read a fair amount of the opposite. personally i wouldn't put either in with bichirs to be absolutely sure. but since you have the pleco already, i'd advice keeping a close eye on them and be prepared to have a back up plan and act quick if the ornate shows signs of losing slime coat (white/dull patches).

on the flip side, if the ornate grows faster than the pleco, it may try to eat the pleco.

 

[beblondie]

Agreed

 

[mcblack]

seems like your pleco is like the slime of bichirs, better watch out for as plecos grow bigger they to even like the slime of bichirs more

 

[elykyelsna]

i keep plecos with my bichirs, a rhino, a common, and a clown, ive never had too much of a problem, although on occasion ill see the common suck on my endlicheri, i think that as long as there is enough food for everyone, they will leave each other alone

 

[beblondie]

''on occasion ill see the common suck on my endlicheri''The removal of slimecoat can have
negative effects the bigger problem is the rasping teeth plecs have damaging the scales of the bichir leaving it open to many nasty infections
SLIMECOAT
Is a mucous created by the continal replacement of glandular cells know in the fishes skin that produce a glycoprotein which is called mucin. This when mixed with water forms the mucus that makes up the slime coat of fish.Fish with poorly developed scales tend to produce more of this slime coat.. The slime coat does threee basci things- it reduces turbulence for the fish when swimming by smotthing over the areas between the fishes scales-it helps regulate the internal/external ionic balance and the efficiecy of gases exchanged through the skins surface-ie-osmoregullation and it provides a slipery surface that in it's sloughing off prevents bacteria from attching themselves to the skin. Bacteria is simply washed away from the skin with this process. It also aids in acting as a wound bandage.Stressed fish have a change in their slime coat-either too much or too little.One sign of a stressed bichir is usually overproduction of its slimecoat.
The most probable reason some plecs are slimecoat suckers.
One has to remember that in the areas of the amazon where a number of plecos exist there is little in the line of protein based foods. Aquatic insects and small inverts do not do well in the heavy current. Plecs are very adaptable to feeding on availiable food sources and one is the mucus coating of other fish. There is good anacdotal evidence of these fish doing this in the wild and plenty of evidence of these fish doing this in captivity. The closest taxonomic relitives of Loricariidae are the Trichomycteridae. There are several mucus feeding only trichomycterid catfishes. It really would not be a suprise to find that mucus feeding is a common feeding method in many Loricariidae catfishes. These fish are really not obligate herbivores.Once this behavior starts it will continue till the plec hasbeen removed-Anne

 

[Honda12]

I have a pleco in with my senegalus and no problems so far. I think the problem you will run into with the ornate and rubbernose is that the ornate will eat the rubbernose.

 

[grmanrocks]

ya, i gave the rubbernose to my bro and picked up a L-200