Pleco questions, can it be kept with cichlid? Does it eat poops?

Question

I've bought a pleco, and i already have a flowerhorn in my tank. They are both about 3 inches, and put a tank divider to separate them. Will flowerhorn kill it if i remove the tank divider? It seems like fh wants to eat it.

I bought pleco thought it would eat **** but its not eating nor moving, will it eat flowerhorn poops after stress is ended?

Answer 1

The pleco will be fine as long as you give it a place to hide. The pleco only cleans the algae build up on the glass of the tank and leftover food on the bottom. It will not eat p**p. You don't need a tank divider, the pleco will grow pretty quick. Just keep in mind that it can grow up to a foot long. Sometimes longer.

Answer 2

Your flowerhorn and pleco will be fine together. I have a huge cichlid tank and there are 2 plecos in there. Your pleco will eat algae and some p**p. It poops a lot though so it won't do much about eating p**p.

Answer 3

plecos are algae eaters not p**p eaters. and if you add him to a flowerhorn make sure he has plenty of room to swim away. flowerhorn would want to nibble on his fins.

Answer 4

It might, make sure you have somewhere for the pleco to hide as cichlids are very aggressive. No, plecos don't eat poo, they eat leftover food that floats to the bottom and algae.

Answer 5

Pleocs dont eat p**p!!!  They make it !!!

Gravel Vacs eat p**p, use one.

The pleco should be OK with all but the most agressive tankmates, but make sure it has plenty of cover, especially at first while it is small.

You need to feed the pleco, sinking algae tablets and large chunks of vege, leftovers and algae in a normal tank wont maintian them. Many plecos are nocturnal, so drop them some food just before lights out at night.

Ian

Did I mention getting a gravel vac?  You will see what I mean once the pleco starts pooping.

Answer 6

Plecos don't eat poops. Poopie breaks down into various chemicals and is purified by your filter.  Plecos eat uneaten food, plant matter, and maybe dead fish.

Don't know what a flowerhorn is. Someone said it was a cichlid-- if so, there would be no problem. I raised cichlids in a community tank with plecostomus and corydora cats.

Answer 7

"I've bought a pleco, and i already have a flowerhorn in my tank. They are both about 3 inches, and put a tank divider to separate them."

Ok a couple things here.  What is the tank size?  That divider doesn't mean jack squat in terms of the waste output.  It just keeps fish physically seperated, but they are both putting waste into the water.

"Will flowerhorn kill it if i remove the tank divider?"

Seems clear to me, you didn't do much in the way of research before you just up and bought fish.  Odds are I doubt it would.  You are failing to consider that a Flowerhorn isn't much of a bottom level fish, it's more of a mid to upper level fish, so chances are the Pleco should be left alone.  Not saying you won't have a mean spirited Flowerhorn, but all in all, repeat this a 100 times over, I'd say you don't have any issue with these two fish in the same tank at least 75 of those times.

"I bought pleco thought it would eat **** but its not eating nor moving, will it eat flowerhorn poops after stress is ended?"

Further demonstrates my point just before.  You did 0 research and just went and bought these fish.  You know what that's a recipe for?  D.E.A.T.H.S

NO fish, as Ian said, eats another fish's waste.  You cannot buy a fish to eliminate doing the work you as the fish keeper is responsible for.  You need to be doing at least weekly changes, and during those changes, just as Ian said, clean out the gravel.  Not doing a vaccum of the gravel is going to leave waste in the water.  That waste, once it's done emitting the ammonia in decomposition, will then begin to emit carbonic and nitric acid's in your tank.  Not to mention, continuing decaying waste is a harbor of unwanted and nasty pathogens.

Answer 8

I dont know about the flowerhorn part but plecos dont eat the other fishes waste. not literaly anyways.