My Golden Nugget Pleco Is Being Bullied :(

plecostomus-mad · Feb 25, 2010

my female golden nugget pleco is being bullied a lot recently. i thought it was a cave issue but its not. when my gn comes out looking for food, my female Bn stops whatever she is doing and purposely heads towards her, stops and stares then nudges towards her to make her flee for cover. most of the time my Gn stays put, kinda standing her ground but my Bn is a persistent cow and head butts her till she has gone.

i only started seeing this since i put a low light near the tank, the reason for this was because i noticed that my Gn's dorsal fin is split in a few places and after ruling out fin rot or any other disease i wanted to find out how the hell it happened

i knew when i bought the gn and bn they may fight, BUT as they were in the same tank, together at the lfs i saw no war wounds etc and they looked at peace with one another. i know most plecos are not tolerant of the same species and get aggressive etc. the funny thing is they both get on with my clown plecos, the Bn more so than the Gn. :fun:

so why does my Bn hate the Gn?

i now have a dilemma, for the health of my Gn i either need to re home one of them :-(

or move one to another tank. the only tank i have room for at the moment is my 2ft 60l. now my gn is 5 inches to the tail.would she be ok in this tank for about 2-3 months until i get my 5ft tank? i know she will grow to at least 8 inches but she is a slow growing plec.i hesitated to ask that question because i totally disagree with people keeping pleco's or indeed any fish in cramped conditions, but seeing as this is kind of an emergency i think its ok to ask.i thought about dividing my larger tank but i dont have 2 heaters to make sure there isnt any cold spots.she would be on her own, i may put my 3 corys in also to keep her company, she hangs out with them.

i have 2 filters running in my larger tank so i will just transfer one of them to the 2ft tank and have a cycled tank automatically

ive moved the wood and caves around the tank to confuse the bn :lol:

and even moved my one filters to change the direction of current so fingers crossed she will leave my gn alone while i sort the 2ft tank out.i was turning it into a planudarium? but have decided to make a fake rock background for it with lots of caves etc.....i think the gn would love it

any thoughts or concerns?

mark

minxfishy · Feb 26, 2010

I would remove the bn, they are aggressive little blighters, mine wont live with another plec, he will attack and not stop, he also goes for other fish. The bn will be fine in the 60l tank for a few months IMO.

PRW1988 · Feb 26, 2010

as reccomended, either remove the BN or remove the GN. That or just change the area you feed your GN. Try placing food near the BN so that she goes for it, and then well distracted drop some food infront of the GN's cave. Hopfully that'll help.

plecostomus-mad · Feb 26, 2010

PRW1988 said:
as reccomended, either remove the BN or remove the GN. That or just change the area you feed your GN. Try placing food near the BN so that she goes for it, and then well distracted drop some food infront of the GN's cave. Hopfully that'll help.

makes no difference as ive tried this method. even if there is no food and my bn spots my gn she goes ape and attacks her. im thinking of moving my gn into my smaller tank for the time being, the bn is alot bigger, six inches to the tail and the tail is 1 1/2 inches, so in theory thats 7 1/2 inches of bn.i would rather put a 5 inch fish in a smaller tank than a 7 1/2 inch.and i know its not ideal to put a 5 inch pleco in a 60l 2ft wide tank but its that or sell / give away or let it carry on being stressed. as ive stated i have a 5ft tank on its way soon, that should be enough space to make my bn forget about the gn.