# Would a royal pleco work with bichirs?



## jesterx626 (Jul 27, 2005)

Despite reading about most pleco's not being compatible with bichirs is quite saddening as I had a recent interest in royal pleco's but I purchased 2 del's first.

Would a royal pleco possibly work out? I've been reading and found that those fish that suck slime coats off bichirs are not being fed the right diet or are not being fed enough, so they turn to the bichirs. A royal pleco eats driftwood mostly, and I would also be feeding it like any other fish 1-2 times a day. Given those circumstances of providing driftwood for the royal to eat, and also daily feedings, might this work?


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Alls you can do is try Sir....

I see many people have luck with pleco's and bichirs-

I have had everything from commons to gold nuggets to marble sailfins with mine and never had a problem...


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

i would advise against it, however it may work in the right situation. however its a crap shoot and i cant give you any history of my own since ive never tried this. from what i know of the two fish you wish to have i can say my mean education tells me this would be moderatly difficult to achieve


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## Justice. (Feb 4, 2008)

jesterx626 said:


> Despite reading about most pleco's not being compatible with bichirs is quite saddening as I had a recent interest in royal pleco's but I purchased 2 del's first.
> 
> Would a royal pleco possibly work out? I've been reading and found that those fish that suck slime coats off bichirs are not being fed the right diet or are not being fed enough, so they turn to the bichirs. A royal pleco eats driftwood mostly, and I would also be feeding it like any other fish 1-2 times a day. Given those circumstances of providing driftwood for the royal to eat, and also daily feedings, might this work?


perfectly it would work out they dont even mind each other atleast mine don't and plus my pleco sucks on my bichers body which is pretty cool and sanatry


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Justice. said:


> Despite reading about most pleco's not being compatible with bichirs is quite saddening as I had a recent interest in royal pleco's but I purchased 2 del's first.
> 
> Would a royal pleco possibly work out? I've been reading and found that those fish that suck slime coats off bichirs are not being fed the right diet or are not being fed enough, so they turn to the bichirs. A royal pleco eats driftwood mostly, and I would also be feeding it like any other fish 1-2 times a day. Given those circumstances of providing driftwood for the royal to eat, and also daily feedings, might this work?


perfectly it would work out they dont even mind each other atleast mine don't and plus my pleco sucks on my bichers body which is pretty cool and sanatry
[/quote]

Hold up Sir---

The sucking part is not a good thing at all-
It will damage the slime coat and make it more acciptable to infections,etc,etc.....You should get that problem solved.....Not good for long term at all...

Highly suggest you seperate them...


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## Justice. (Feb 4, 2008)

AKSkirmish said:


> Despite reading about most pleco's not being compatible with bichirs is quite saddening as I had a recent interest in royal pleco's but I purchased 2 del's first.
> 
> Would a royal pleco possibly work out? I've been reading and found that those fish that suck slime coats off bichirs are not being fed the right diet or are not being fed enough, so they turn to the bichirs. A royal pleco eats driftwood mostly, and I would also be feeding it like any other fish 1-2 times a day. Given those circumstances of providing driftwood for the royal to eat, and also daily feedings, might this work?


perfectly it would work out they dont even mind each other atleast mine don't and plus my pleco sucks on my bichers body which is pretty cool and sanatry
[/quote]

Hold up Sir---

The sucking part is not a good thing at all-
It will damage the slime coat and make it more acciptable to infections,etc,etc.....You should get that problem solved.....Not good for long term at all...

Highly suggest you seperate them...
[/quote]

i mean it don't like suck on my bicher forever it shouldn't be any harm done IMO ^^
^^


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

Wouldn't any of the sucking leave the bichir prone to ill effects?


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## Novato (Jan 25, 2004)

I have them both in the tank. They have been there for about a year with no problems at all!


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## WhiteLineRacer (Jul 13, 2004)

PLecs sucking on any fish is a bad thing, it's horrid. Your plec is eating your bichirs protective coat, if this continues unstopped the bichir will get badly worn out as it tries to heal itself constantly. Hence it will get stressed, be prone to disease and die a nasty death.

My Plecs never did this to any of my fish luckily, get rid of that plec and buy another, maybe try a swap?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Justice. said:


> Despite reading about most pleco's not being compatible with bichirs is quite saddening as I had a recent interest in royal pleco's but I purchased 2 del's first.
> 
> Would a royal pleco possibly work out? I've been reading and found that those fish that suck slime coats off bichirs are not being fed the right diet or are not being fed enough, so they turn to the bichirs. A royal pleco eats driftwood mostly, and I would also be feeding it like any other fish 1-2 times a day. Given those circumstances of providing driftwood for the royal to eat, and also daily feedings, might this work?


perfectly it would work out they dont even mind each other atleast mine don't and plus my pleco sucks on my bichers body which is pretty cool and sanatry
[/quote]

Hold up Sir---

The sucking part is not a good thing at all-
It will damage the slime coat and make it more acciptable to infections,etc,etc.....You should get that problem solved.....Not good for long term at all...

Highly suggest you seperate them...
[/quote]

i mean it don't like suck on my bicher forever it shouldn't be any harm done IMO ^^
^^
[/quote]

Your opinion is 100% incorrect. 
That is exactly the problem with keeping plecos with bichirs. 
If the bichir is aggressive it will kill the pleco. if it is passive it will allow the pleco to suck off its slime coat eventually killing it. 
If you want a algae cleaner look into CAE's or oto's. Its likley however that the bichir will eat them tho.

I cannot keep anything with my Ornate. He eats everything. I had to seperate him from my snakehead cause it was beating the crap out of the SH.


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

CAEs have the same issues with sucking the slime off a fish.


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