# Bristlenose Pleco



## hubert (Jan 7, 2010)

I was under the impression that bristlenose plecos were compatible in community fish tanks... 
I have a male who is just over a year now. He kills other fish, We watch him hide behind rocks and plants and pounce on the fish, and he's randomly gone up and tackled fish to the bottom of the tank and then feed off them, is this normal? :-(


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

what do you feed him?
no, this is not normal


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

hubert said:


> is this normal? :-(


hu:

NO!!!

TR


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## hubert (Jan 7, 2010)

we feed fish flakes and algae flakes. Also put cucumber in, which he really attacks! Can I just add that all our other fish are v.healthy lol


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

odd thing for a pleco to do. usually they are rather shy.


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

Are you 100% sure that this is a BN pleco? Are you feeding him enough? This is crazy behaviour.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

why do we find it so hard to believe that a fish would turn rogue and start killing others..
humans do it all the time..
there are a number of species of plecos....some more aggressive than others..i have 2 big 8"+ dudes that will sometimes hassle my monster severums..they don't hurt them ; they just bug them.


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

Yeah, people generally "expect" their pets to do certain things, and when they do something "different" they are surprised and going crazy.

In the sense of plecos, usually, they are not "aggressive".


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

I'm not sayin its impossible, because obviously it isn't. Humans going rouge isn't natural either.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

I've been told Pleco's are very passive and shy. I actually had one Pleco get his eyes plucked out and then eaten by a couple of Cichlids because he wasn't strong enough. Then I bought the Pleco I have now and put him in with the juvenile Peacocks and Synodontis. He grew up with them. He's actually an extremely aggressive Pleco now. He defends his territory, and will turn sideways and suck on the side of the fish that's trying to get under his rock with him. He also likes to buck them with his head like a ram. No one gets hurt, but they don't mess with him any more. Even the Synodontis struggle with him, because he's so territorial. The male Synodontis and the Pleco kind of share the same cave, but they fight over it every once in a while. 

I think raising him with aggressive species taught him how to survive. In short, it's not unusual for passive fish to take an aggressive stance to stay alive. They are animals with instincts and will do what it takes to survive.


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## hubert (Jan 7, 2010)

Cacatuoides said:


> Are you 100% sure that this is a BN pleco? Are you feeding him enough? This is crazy behaviour.


He is definitely a bristlenose 
We got our first tank just over a year, and the only fish we kept for the first 4 months were the bristlenose who was so ridiculously tiny! 4 guppies and 4 gouramis. We slowly introduced different fish over the months with no problem, until about 2/3 months ago when he just started killing!
So I thought id put a post on here to see if anyone could :help:
Thanks for your response


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I don't know about helping other than to say if you want your other fish to have some peace you might want a different set up for the big guy. Maybe his own tank?


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