Other Turtle Discussion :: Turtle and Pleco

[sonyj]

I know there's been some conversation about what types of fish you can put with your turtle and the fish won't become lunch. I've had a pleco with Koopa for a little while now and he hasn't bothered it even after eating the guppies. I've wondered how long the pleco and turtle's relationship will last peacefully. Well, today my daughter got my attention to come over to the tank because the pleco was "sucking" the plastron of Koopa. It was very interesting to watch. Koopa just floated there and let the pleco finish his job. I wish now I'd grabbed the camera but at the time I was a little dumbfounded.

Has any one every witnessed this before? Do you think it will have an adverse effects on Koopa? Or will it just be a new way for him to stay clean?

[jenaero]

I can't see it doing any harm, but there are people here who know way more about that than I do.

As far as the pleco being lunch one day, it's probably inevitable. Even if they've been together since the beginning. At the Petland here, there's a pond with about 5 adult RES and a bunch of really big koi..I'm talkin like 2 feet long. After living together for years, one day, all the res ganged up on one of the fish and there was hardly anything left of him. Just have to wait and see, and try not to gag while cleaning the mess.

[steve]

I don't keep my pleco with my RES, but I have read that it happens - usually when the RES is asleep though. Nothing to worry about, just get that camera ready!
Jen, did you witness that attack? When my RES was small and would take on a minnow, he would eat it slowly. He would take his time and the minnow would be ripped in half but still alive. Ugh.

[jenaero]

No, thank God I wasn't there at the time. One of the guys at the pet store told me about it. He was upset because the fish were his own..lol. Would have been ugly tho.

[marisa]

I've heard of plecos cleaning the shells of turtles before. Does your turtle's shell have any algae on it? A pic would be interesting to see.

[sonyj]

No, Koopa's shell was all clean. I just cleaned him last week and even then he didn't have any algae on him. But my daughter pointed out that even sea turtles have some kind of little fish that help clean them in the ocean. So I guess it is pretty normal. I really want to catch a picture of the pleco doing that. It looked really neat. I hate to see the mess if Koopa decides his tank mate is lunch. yuk....

[pretty.rock.machine]

Are Pleco's sucker fish?! I usually just call them sucker fish.
I've seen sucker fish get pretty big. Maybe if your fish continues to grow while your turt does it will delay the inevitable.

And another question... How are you supposed to clean your turtle?

[sonyj]

I know there's a topic somewhere around here about cleaning your turtle. That's where I got my info. I just use a soft tooth brush once a month or so to brush his shell. Yes, pleco are the sucker fish.

[pretty.rock.machine]

Wow, I never knew they were called that! Learn somethin' new everyday....

[turtlezilla]

Does any1 have a pic of a pleco? In miramar pet stores there is a sucker fish called chinese algae eater. I think its just a fancy name they made up so people would buy them.

[pretty.rock.machine]

Around these here parts we call these thingys sucker fish.

Go here:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/i ... t&ei=UTF-8

There are tons of images.

[turtlezilla]

wow. They look similar to The ones here. The only difference is that mine are brown. I own four of them two are larger than both of my turts ( Toitle 3 1/2 in, Kingpin 4 in)

[pretty.rock.machine]

Yeah, I think they will grow as big as you will let them. I've saw one that was almost a foot long once.

[bradhart]

I've hears (from www.austinsturtlepage.com) about a pleco that attached itself to the face of a turtle, and ate its eyelids. The turt recovered with some TLC, but I don't how common this is.

[turtlezilla]

The Pet stores use them in their tanks to clean up poopie and stuff so i thought i would get a couple for my turts. BIG MISTAKE. I came home with one who commit suicide on the turtle rock from being scared and the other one was gone. /