Male Or Female Pleco?

[Schofield]

How do you determine if a Pleco is male or female?

 

[xingumike]

What species?

 

[Schofield]

How do you determine if a Pleco is male or female?

It's a common pleco. Also, I've noticed it's begun "sucking" on the two young parrot fish I have. It won't eat the supplements, only cucumber or zuchinni. It's about 8 inches in length. The parrots look like they've been cornered anytime the pleco is attached to it; can you tell me what the pleco is doing?

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid some plecs do develop a taste for the slime coat of other fish's. It's very hard to break them of the habit, once they've started, and it will cause illness or injury to the parrots.

All you can really do is move the plec to a tank with fast, slim bodied fish it can't attach itself to

 

[Schofield]

I'm afraid some plecs do develop a taste for the slime coat of other fish's. It's very hard to break them of the habit, once they've started, and it will cause illness or injury to the parrots.

All you can really do is move the plec to a tank with fast, slim bodied fish it can't attach itself to

Thank you for this information. I've never heard of anything like this before; I thought the pleco was a placid and easy going breed. My parrots have red streaks, but don't appear injured; what can i do to replace the slime coat? I'll be moving the pleco. Also, the pleco won't eat the algae wafers; it really likes zucchinni squash, but I don't like the way it mucks up the water so I've been feeding it cucumber. It doesn't seem to care as much for the cucumber but i'm determined not to return to the squash- to much poop and clean up. Can you recommend any other foods?

 

[fluttermoth]

There's not really enough nutrients in cucumber to make it worth while feeding. You could try peas (lightly cooked and shelled), carrot (also lightly cooked to soften it) slices of apple, mango or melon rind (with a little bit of the flesh left on) or blanched lettuce (not iceberg though; there's no goodness in it, same as cucumber).

Your parrot's slime coat will soon mend, once the plec is gone. It's not a very common problem, plecs usually are very placid.

 

[Schofield]

There's not really enough nutrients in cucumber to make it worth while feeding. You could try peas (lightly cooked and shelled), carrot (also lightly cooked to soften it) slices of apple, mango or melon rind (with a little bit of the flesh left on) or blanched lettuce (not iceberg though; there's no goodness in it, same as cucumber).

Your parrot's slime coat will soon mend, once the plec is gone. It's not a very common problem, plecs usually are very placid.

Thank you very much for the food suggestions; also I've moved the pleco. i've now been able to see the extent of damage to the parrots; a little more red than i could see orginally, but i'm glad to know they will heal soon. i placed some extra "prime" conditioner in the water hoping it will aid healing. after i moved the pleco i placed zuchinni in the water, and it just nibbled at it rather than rushing at it like normal; i'm thinking it's just trying to settle into the new environment. thanks again

 

[reagan101]

How can you tell the sex of a common?

 

[Moby-Krib]

Sexing the common pleco is very tricky,
in some species the males tend to be smaller than the females and develop bigger barbells.
Some sources claim that the chin barbells are somewhat smoother in females.
really only doable when full grown with others to compare to.

 

[xingumike]

Or comparing genital papilla in mature fish.

You would need to know what you are looking for though and probably get the fish out of water.