Bull Dog Pleco

[m00ms]

hi there i have a bulldog pleco which ive had since little young and im finding that he is getting more and more aggresive.he lives in a 3 ft 120 lt tank with amongst others being 2 panda garras,2 bristle cats and 2 bolivian rams.he wont let any others go any where any rocks as there all his!!!

is it harmful to the others him keep chasing them? is there any way to calm him down ie by another bulldog to give him a play mate of his own? any advice please as im looking to set up a small 30lt tank soon which will be all his if he cant behave in the 120 lt tank!!

thanks.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Chaetostoma genus ("Bulldog") catfish, do have a reputation for being territorial on the tank floor and for a three foot tank, you have quite a few bottom dwellers!

If the Panda Garras are stressed, they will lose their panda colouring and look a bleached out grey-white. My three were like this recently in the Rio240, but are all looking more natural in the 540l.

I'm not in a position to comment on how your Bristlenose will show stress, or your Bolovian Rams, but I can forsee a "world war III" scenario if the Rams ever spawned...

(I'm presuming there is a good current in there over ~1200 litres per hour of actual movement, along with a temp of ~22C (although there is some variance between the ~40 species, see http/www.planetcat...?species_id=308), most need a temp <24C), your Chaetostoma needs heavily oxygen saturated water

)

 

[m00ms]

i would say that none are stressed going by there behavoir but it cant be much fun keep getting chased off if they go near the rocks.

im running an air pump and a eheim 2224 filter which is not near your recomended 1200lt turn over but my lfs tests my water from time to time and report that ammonia,nitrite and nitrate are all well in so surely that means that alls good on the filteration side of my tank? think i might have my water temp to high at 27 c thou ?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The turnover is not for ammonia and nitrite levels, its for a plenty of water surface rippling to get plenty of oxygen into the water, which your Bulldog needs (many come from environments close to that of the specialized "Hillstream loaches" http/www.loaches.c...n-the-fast-lane). An additional powerhead (eg. Koralia 1 or one of the new Eco range) aimed at the water surface could do wonders for your Bulldog and your Garras.

Do you know which species of Chaetostoma you have? That planetcatfish link I gave you should help ID your one by the pics. Thomasi and milesi species are common, but sometimes you can find rarer ones in the LFS tank as they often arrive in mixed species batches

27C definitely sounds high as a regular temp 24/7, but I'm not sure how much lower than 26C you can go for your Bolivian Rams (some sites suggest as low as 22C, others 25C and a little higher to promote breeding).