Pleco behavior?

There is no keeping a pleco in a planted aquarium. As plecos grow, they will eat through your plants, driftwood, and anything else they can get their mouths on. They will also lose their interest in algae altogether, and may decide to suck the protective coating off of some of your more peaceful fish (although I've never seen one go after another fish myself). Thats kind of a dilemma, seeing as he will soon outgrow the 10 gallon, and you want to have live plants in your larger aquarium. Definately don't underfeed him to try to prevent him from growing faster, it will only make his destructiveness worse, and I might try to find a friend with a large un-planted tank to take him off your hands.

Pleco Behavior

Well Plecos can attack other fish because they love the slime coat on other fish. I have a Pleco and he's growing. He's in a 10 gallon tank. He's the lone inhabitor of the tank and happy about it. He's a loner. He has been in a 50 gallon tank and kept it clean but he gave hickies to my goldfish so I had to put him back in the 10 gallon. He was stressing my goldfish. He can live in with a Betta but should really be alone or with bigger fish. They're bottom feeders and bottom habitors so it's just up to the mentality of your pleco.

As for him growing well he can and will grow up to a foot long. That's natural for them. You really need to consider eventually putting him in a bigger tank. He will out grow it.

If he out grows the tank or your ability to take care of him, your local fish store or zoo will take them. Do not flush him or kill him. The store or zoo will be more than happy to take them. They won't give you anything for it but just a home for your fish, believe it or not there are people out there willing to buy the bigger plecos!

PS: You need to feed the placo at least 2 tablets. Ours gets a half tablet 2 times a day and he's just about 6 inches. Do not over feed because underfeeding is actually more healthier than over feeding fish. They live longer and grow at a healthy rate. Call a local fish store and ask they're opinion. Ask a few fish experts like at Pet Smart etc.... See what is the average of the info you get and go from their. You will see you are over feeding by seeing a lot of waste build up....

Good Luck!

What kind of pleco do you have, it's not growing that fast.

I bought at 3 Inches Common pleco, and it's now 8 Inches after 7 Months.

Then I also bought an 8 Inches Rhino Pleco, it's been 5 months now, it grew 4 Inches.

I have plants in all tanks, they like to nibble at it but it's OK.

I never seen or heard of a Pleco digging in the gravel, but for sure it's not making a nest.

I agree with Guzz. What kind of pleco do you have? Is it the common pleco? He should be much larger then that. More common ones found at pet stores are rubber lip pleco and bristlenose pleco-they stay about 4-6 inches. They stay smaller. Definitely need to feed him more. He's nibbling on the plants because he's hungry. Try feeding more algae wafers, and also some shrimp pellets. That is cruel to withhold food to keep him small. Here's an article someone wrote about a fish tank he bought, that ended up coming with 3 stunted fish, an oscar, goldfish, and I believe a pleco as well. He ended up euthanizing them to put them out of their misery.

http://www.oscarfish.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=...

Plecos many times come to the floor and grab a mouthful of air, which they swallow and launch slowly interior this form of bubbles. This "air bubble" of their abdomen enables them to maintain buoyancy and stability interior the water at the same time as they are "soaring". i'm beneficial you have seen your pleco in distinctive positions at the same time as he cleans your tank: horizontal, vertical, even the other way up. sometimes they appear as if they are resting on an exceedingly risky floor like a floating leaf ... the leaf won't be able to hold the burden of the fish. it extremely is their "air bubble" that keeps them afloat while they are not resting on a stable floor. My pleco does it each and all of the time. on the different hand, in the experience that your pleco and all the different fish on your tank are on the floor gasping for air, it extremely is probable through loss of aeration, and that's the only time you should be bothered.

I had a pleco that did the same thing ...the bigger he got the worse he was...eventually I saw him attacking other fish in the tank really aggressively..he killed most of them...that was the last pleco I ever had.

Keeping a pleco in a 10 gallon tank and starving him to keep him small is paramount to tourture. He needs to be in a larger tank and be well fed. A 3 year old pleco that is only 5 inches long is very undersized and may have already been stunted. I've known many people to keep plecos in planted tanks to control alge without problems.

Oh, and Ann, your confuseing Plecos with Chinese Alge eaters and gold alge eaters.

they will attack other fish, it doesn't happen all the time, but they will.

Depends on what kind of Pleco you have some are actually omnivorous and need meaty foods on occasion, some are actually carnivorous. the 10 gallon won't hold him for long either way.

YOUR PL ECO IS "MAKING A NEST " BECAUSE HE LOOKING FOR FOOD, ALGAE. YOU SHOULD FEED HIM MOOR. PLECOS CAN LIVE FOR UP TO 15 YEARS. HAVE FUN