# I put my pleco in my rhom tank 'cause I love him



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Well that's how I've rationalized it in my head anyway. I blame Judazz really, he's got me started on the idea that there may be hope for a pleco to live a little while in a piranha tank and now... well the pleco is in my rhom tank, what more can I say?

The tank has a whole ton of cover, and my thoughts for some sort of sucess are as follows.

First,

View attachment 54515


As you can see, lots of hiding space for a little pleco to get lost in.

Second, is his behavior. I never see this guy unless I look behind rocks and stuff, he doesn't seem to come out much during the day, so hopefully he confines his big movements to night time.

Lastly, is that despite charging the glass and trying to eat ME, my rhom seems semi tolerant of tank mates. There are two flying foxes that have been in there for a few weeks, though it has to be said that he ate the other two instantly. I attribute this to Judazz's theory that new fish get picked off when they're stressed because that's how piranhas behave, sounds logical and well thought out to me at least. As a good sign, the pleco's stress bars faded almost immediately after I put him in the tank, so hopefully he feels a little at ease.

But MOSTLY, it's not the chance for success that drives me, but rather the opportunity to provide the pleco a really great environment while he is in there. Where he was he got picked on a little by my green terror so already I'm removing a stressor. Secondly, they prefer lots of current, my terror and convicts don't so that tank had no powerhead. This one does, and he should be happy for it. As well, there's a nice supply of algae in there for him to have a little buffet and a nice chunk of driftwood should he want something with a bit more substance to it. Diet wise, he's good to go since this will be better than his algae wafer diet and occasional lettuce leaf. You also can't overlook the fact that planted tanks just provide much healthier environments for fish than non planted ones do.

I've always been a believer that providing QUALITY of life was more important than QUANTITY of life with fish. While the two usually go hand in hand, it's not always so in piranha tanks. A fish can be perfectly healthy and happy though have a shortened life when a piranha decides it's hungry, and that's ok with me. I think that a fish is better off being comfortable and happy in ideal conditions and then getting eaten after 2 months than living in less than ideal conditions for 2 years.

So where am I going with this? To be honest I forget, but the basic idea is that from my perspective I'm doing the fish a favor by doing this, and I'll hope for the best. Wish me luck


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## Red Eyes (Nov 25, 2003)

With all those hiding places ... your pleco has a better chance at surviving. I have had plecos in my piranha tanks for almost six months without any problems (a little fin nip on one of the Gold Nuggets but its healed up) and yes I blame Judazzz for starting me up on these plecos


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## Umbilical Syllables (Dec 16, 2004)

Good luck to your pleco. What kind is it and how big?


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

It's actually a little denser than that picture, I just haven't had time for an updated pic. I'm hoping he'll be alright, checked on him just now and he's happily sucking along the glass, no stress coloration which is a very good sign.

Umbilical - It's a rubbernose/bulldog pleco. Only about 3 inches big and I imagine that's as big as he'll grow. My favorite looking pleco, though they're pretty reclusive.

This is either him or the other rubbernose (still with the GT but looking for somewhere to put him). They look identical so I can't tell


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## janus (Oct 28, 2004)

Oh, he`s tiny! I hope he`ll make it.

I have two Pleco`s in my Piranha-tank(4 reds), no problemes so far.
They`re a lot bigger though!


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

i really like that tank setup

and hopefully he lives


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Well, I have NO idea whatsoever where he is, which is a good thing. It means he's found a nice hiding place. It's if I see a head floating around that I'll worry









I think he's likely behind the driftwood, there's actually an ideal hiding spot in there, the back has a little knot that makes a cave about 4 inches deep and 2 inches wide. A nice little sheltered home where he can probably feel pretty damn secure. In a few days I'll go looking for him or maybe turn a light on in the middle of the night to see if I catch him out. I have a strong feeling he's ok though


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

nice pleco. i'm sure he'll do fine. you could've tried a raphael cat, i hear those have pretty high survival rates with serras [when given enough cover]. either way, good luck with pleco.


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## themainman (Dec 15, 2004)

My pleco didn't last 12 hours in my rhom tank. He's lucky to be alive because he has no tail after his anus hole.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

I think the key is to treat your tank not as a piranha tank, but as an Amazonian tank that happens to contain piranha's as well as other fish, all with their own specific needs.
I've seen many examples of people dumping catfish in their piranha tank, adding a rock or small piece of drift wood and say hiding places are present. Unfortunately that's not how things work, and I doubt the catfish are very happy with the situation they find themselves in: one meagre hiding place doesn't allow natural behaviour (as far as that's possible in a tank, of course), and that will be reflected in the way things work out.

Acclimatisation, understanding and respecting the needs of the tank mates, a proper aquascaping and an understanding that despite all the measures you take you're embarking on a risky experiment, all are vitally important.
A fish that lives in a natural environment that reflects in natural habitat will be more healthy, comfortable and probably more alert, increasing its chances to live alongside predatory fish.

I think your tank looks awesome, Twitch. If I manage to keep tank mates with my piranha's, I'm pretty confident it'll work out in your case as well - it has much denser decor than my tanks, so it offers plenty of hiding places, and allows your fish to exhibit natural behaviour.
Good luck, man - I think you're certainly on the right track: I don't think you'll be able to offer any more suitable conditions for piranha and tank mates in one tank.
Now just keep your fingers crossed your Rhom won't be a party pooper - in the end, he's an opportunist, so impossible to predict.

And as far as blaming me - monkey see, monkey do is all I have to say in response to that


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Month and a half it lasted, and strangely enough I really expected the pleco to be the last to get eaten. Saw something wierd stuck to the filter intake that later turned out to be the top half of my rubbernose pleco stuck on there. That was kind of sad, but pulling him off the intake to have him try and swim away was alot worse. I did the humane thing and smashes his head to pieces and that's that. The rhom had missed a feeding due to my being unable to feed him and he ate the pleco. Not sure if it's a cause/effect relationship or what, but having to smash one of my pets has turned me off on the whole idea of mixing plecos with piranhas. I'll probably still use SAEs because they seem to be faring better (still alive some months afterwards) and because if they do get eaten, it will be very quick instead of me having to put it out of it's misery.

Oh well


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

Nice looking pleco


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

elTwitcho said:


> Month and a half it lasted, and strangely enough I really expected the pleco to be the last to get eaten. Saw something wierd stuck to the filter intake that later turned out to be the top half of my rubbernose pleco stuck on there. That was kind of sad, but pulling him off the intake to have him try and swim away was alot worse. I did the humane thing and smashes his head to pieces and that's that. The rhom had missed a feeding due to my being unable to feed him and he ate the pleco. Not sure if it's a cause/effect relationship or what, but having to smash one of my pets has turned me off on the whole idea of mixing plecos with piranhas. I'll probably still use SAEs because they seem to be faring better (still alive some months afterwards) and because if they do get eaten, it will be very quick instead of me having to put it out of it's misery.
> 
> Oh well
> [snapback]1025747[/snapback]​


sorry to hear that, that was a great looking pleco. just goez to show, p's wit p's, no need to risk lives wit other fish


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Tibs said:


> just goez to show, p's wit p's, no need to risk lives wit other fish
> [snapback]1027287[/snapback]​


I would have to disagree on this point. There is alot to be gained from finding a way to keep fish with serrasalmus in my eyes. I have issues with the thought of keeping any fish solitary without another animal to interact with, and the short time that my rhom was by himself I didn't feel right about it. Judazz has shown that some degree of success is quite possible with plecos and rhoms, and the fact that my SAEs still remain in the tank for a few months now gives me hope that a balance can be reached. I doubt I'm going to try plecos again with this rhom since the pleco I did have seemed "ideal" to what I thought would work but there's going to be more experiments.

So I see a very definite need to risk mixing fish, and I don't feel ethically bad about it since the time that the fish are in my rhom tank I have given them every necessity to thrive. My flying foxes/SAEs might get eaten tommorow, but I can say that in the months they were in my tank they showed phenomenal growth, lived in a comfortable environment and had an ideal tank setup for them.


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## waspride (Jun 13, 2004)

Hopefully you will have more luck than i did. My altuvie ate my pleco in one night, althought my tank was not as heavily planted as yours.

Seeing that he is so small and the amount of cover in that tank i bet he will alright for a while.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

waspride said:


> Hopefully you will have more luck than i did. My altuvie ate my pleco in one night, althought my tank was not as heavily planted as yours.
> 
> Seeing that he is so small and the amount of cover in that tank i bet he will alright for a while.
> 
> ...


um lol if u havent noticed twitch alerted us that he was killed last saturday, a lil slow on that one lol


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## smokinbubbles (Mar 25, 2005)

Dr. Green said:


> i really like that tank setup
> 
> and hopefully he lives
> [snapback]953173[/snapback]​


yes your set up is nice as hell man. i love the water plants that look like water grass. i use to have some micro sword that hung over the pot it was in and started to send runners through the gravel.

J-Rod


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## WorldBelow07 (Dec 16, 2004)

i had a pleco with my medinai fora long ass time. i decided to put him with my rhom one night. he was choped in half in the morning


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

old news


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## ~Silly~Spy (Mar 12, 2005)

gl man . i have my pleco in with my 5 P's and he holds his own, but mine is 3x the size of yours. well wish you the best of luck anyway


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## ALLENFISH (Aug 7, 2005)

Ive had a Pleco and a red tail catfish with mai piranhas from day one so they are all fish homies







They never attack the pleco. Maybe because its like 17 inches?


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2006)

i had 5 3" to 4" rbps and a 4" pleco for 4 months no problems then i got rid of the rbps and got a 10" rhom. one week later i had a 2" pleco.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I have a bushynose in my sanchezi tank. Not nearly as much cover as what you have... I have one cave in the middle and a monster java fern in the corner. A few anubias and that's it.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Mettle said:


> I have a bushynose in my sanchezi tank. Not nearly as much cover as what you have... I have one cave in the middle and a monster java fern in the corner. A few anubias and that's it.


Good luck. As I mentioned I had only half a pleco left after this experiment. Knowing I really did everything I could to encourage the fish's survival, I don't think a pleco could ever be kept with *my* rhom.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

elTwitcho said:


> I have a bushynose in my sanchezi tank. Not nearly as much cover as what you have... I have one cave in the middle and a monster java fern in the corner. A few anubias and that's it.


Good luck. As I mentioned I had only half a pleco left after this experiment. Knowing I really did everything I could to encourage the fish's survival, I don't think a pleco could ever be kept with *my* rhom.
[/quote]

A couple weeks in and so far so good. He likes to hide. If it were another type of pleco that was out a lot I'm sure it'd be toast.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Like I said, good luck. I'm sure it can be done, Judazz has had alot of success mixing plecos with piranhas. I think sometimes it won't work no matter what you do (in my case for instance, all the conditions were absolutely perfect but still failed) but but I do believe it's quite possible to have success.


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