polkadot plec

my polkadot plec bit the dust last week , did a water change as usual on the tuesday and on wednesday night I could see him shuffling around eating some mussel, have had him about 2 and a half years never saw much of him only his tail. Well on thursday morning did a tank check and could see what I thought was a pearl gourami stuck behind the spray bay but when I went to get it out it was my polkadot. Had a good look at him and there were no marks on his body, did a water check which tested normal and I am at a loss.
The only thing I was wondering is I have 6 yoyo loach in the same tank and saw one of the loach chase an odessa barb around the tank this week do you think one of the loach could have attacked the plec ,he was only about 2 inches long and the biggest loach is about 4 inches.

Do polka dot plecs stay small then alison? If he was only little I suppose he could have been bullied by the loaches, although they are not known to be an aggressive fish are they.

Its a shame when fish die and you dont know why.

sorry to hear of your loss alison will you be getting another one



dekker

No I dont think so I have put one of the baby britlenose in and he has made himself quite at home,he tends to stay close to brian my common plec its like big brother ,little brother.

Ive just bought a baby BN to go in with Max my male betta. he is only about 1" long and keeps getting chased by the betta if he strays anywhere near the bubble nest Max has just built

I would love to geta female betta now for Max, and am hoping that this little BN will turn out to be a female - it would be great to pair it up with one of the males in my big tank

nice pick up diana b.ns are lovely fish


dekker

Oh I love plecs dekks - probably my favourite fish (although the betta is rapidly climbing up the list). I would love to get more BN's or similar sized ones but the two males I have in the main tank just about tolerate each other, adding more to the mix would be a recipe for disaster

You can always get a bigger tank Diana

Awww that's a shame, alison. IME plecs are tough as old boots so he may have succumbed to something internal.

I dont want to sound rude etc but are you 100% sure it was a polka dot and not (for example) a snowball plec?

Spotted plecs are common and easily confused (in terms of species ID) and if it was (for example) a snwball - they have quite a meat heavy diet - if he/she wasnt gettiung enough meaty food 0- then dietry problems etc.

Anyway - sorry for your loss - unexplained deaths suck (excuse unintended catfish pun) - Mine is about 18months old now - i only ever see the odd bit of tail or fin unless im sneaky and use red lamp late at night to view - but even then it dont hang around too long.

Maybe worth trying another species or keep tough as nails BN's

Diana, I see you have a BN in with your betta. Do they get on ok? I was wondering about getting a bit of a bigger tank for the betta - with room enough for a few other fish but know the reputation of the bettas and dont know what would be ok/

Have you had any problems?

I had 20+ BN fry in with a male betta with no real issues - just be sure the BN(s) have a safe house on the off chance the betta gets grumpy

My male betta calmed right down once id added a few females

Fishfan wrote:

Diana, I see you have a BN in with your betta. Do they get on ok? I was wondering about getting a bit of a bigger tank for the betta - with room enough for a few other fish but know the reputation of the bettas and dont know what would be ok/

Have you had any problems?

Hiya FF. Well, I bought some cherry batbs (females) as I had read that people had kept them with male bettas withoug problems and initially all semed ok. Then for some reason the barbs just turned nasty and started chasing the betta all round the tank! I had been worrying that it would be the betta being aggressive but it was just the opposite!

I had to catch them and put them in the big tank, but left the BN in. No real problems. The betta occassionally chases him but theres not enough aggro that I am worried about it - it's more just setting out boundaries stuff I think and most of the time all is calm.

I was thinkijng of getting some ottos but now am probably just going to keep the two fish in there and give them both plenty of room

my male betta was always chasing ottos around and given ottos hate any stress - i moved them into the main tank to live with the existing group.

You wait til the plec gets bigger - the betta will back off

I guess it just depends on the betta doesnt it. Good coment about the BN tho, I might try and catch one of mine - theyre a fair size now, and then get a newbe for the big tank