werd339 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Originally I had purchased some plants that hatched a snail - he was doing great. However after I purchased some rasboras and a royal pleco from my LFS to fill my 10 gallon tank the pleco seems to be bullying my snail and may have tried to eat him. Are they just having some territorial beef or should I remove my little mystery snail before it's too late? I only have one tank so if I was to remove him what would be the best option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 What are you feeding and how often? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) Weird. Panaques are not one of those snail eaters normally. But, plecos can unintentionally bother snails no matter what. I can confirm that them grazing around/on the snail shells and being active at eating food may be challenging and scaring for snails. I have had issues keeping snails in bristlenose breeding tank too. as asked above, do you target feed it daily? As a side note, royal plecos get big. They reach the size of 17”/43 cm. You may want to have plans regarding this soon as it will outgrow a 10g very quickly I would also advice to see this video about panaques and their diet Edited January 21 by Lennie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werd339 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 12:20 PM, mynameisnobody said: What are you feeding and how often? I have had it for 5 days and put a few french style green beans each night before bed but when I wake up them seem undisturbed. I have ordered better food from the website but it will not be in until this Thursday. What would you recommend trying next? On 1/21/2024 at 12:40 PM, Lennie said: Weird. Panaques are not one of those snail eaters normally. But, plecos can unintentionally bother snails no matter what. I can confirm that them grazing around/on the snail shells and being active at eating food may be challenging and scaring for snails. I have had issues keeping snails in bristlenose breeding tank too. As a side note, royal plecos get big. They reach the size of 17”/43 cm. You may want to have plans regarding this soon as it will outgrow a 10g very quickly I would also advice to see this video about panaques and their diet thanks for everything! I really appreciate it. Maybe I am mistaken on the exact breed if that's the case. The lady at the fish store showed me the big ones and then pointed me to the smaller ones after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 It can be challenging to picture a pleco, but if you can have some clear detailed pics , maybe it may help to have opinions on what it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Proper ID would greatly help your cause Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werd339 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 (edited) I have these pictures from my phone. Hopefully they help @mynameisnobody @Lennie Edit: The 2nd picture isn't the best for details but you can see that white striped pattern on his tail. I don't see it a lot while looking at other pleco online but it does pop up exactly when I google "royal pleco" so I only assumed Edited January 21 by werd339 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Ok perfect, so that is either a royal/watermelon/broken line pleco. Any of these will be primarily carnivores and they will munch away on any driftwood to the point that filtration will be of utmost importance. I had one for a couple of years and it looked like a sawdust factory most of the time. As far as bullying snails, I’ve personally have never seen it, but it doesn’t surprise me. If its diet isn’t met then it will do what it has to do in order to get a meal. PS that thing will get huge. Personally, I’d never shop at a store that points you in the wrong direction like this. What size aquarium is he in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werd339 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 1:07 PM, mynameisnobody said: Ok perfect, so that is either a royal/watermelon/broken line pleco. Any of these will be primarily carnivores and they will munch away on any driftwood to the point that filtration will be of utmost importance. I had one for a couple of years and it looked like a sawdust factory most of the time. As far as bullying snails, I’ve personally have never seen it, but it doesn’t surprise me. If its diet isn’t met then it will do what it has to do in order to get a meal. PS that thing will get huge. Personally, I’d never shop at a store that points you in the wrong direction like this. What size aquarium is he in? Right now just a 10 gallon with some micro fish, what size tank would you recommend? I've considered upgrading to a 30 gallon but just got this one up and running Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 @werd339 if I were you, I’d send that guy back to the LFS and get yourself a bristlenose pleco. The pleco you currently have literally can get up to the size of a 10 gallon tank. If you’d want to keep it healthy and happy, I’d say a 125 gallon would be the lowest I’d go. Once you see the driftwood mess that they make besides the constant poop, a 125 will seem too small maintenance wise. It is a beautiful pleco, but if 30 gallons is your max then this species may not be in your future. Don’t be discouraged though, it’s happened to all of us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 9:07 PM, mynameisnobody said: Any of these will be primarily carnivores and they will munch away on any driftwood to the point that filtration will be of utmost importance. I had one for a couple of years and it looked like a sawdust factory most of the time. They are not carnivores at all. Please see the video I mentioned above, particularly starting from min 12. Rebecca studies the evolution of loricariidae as her phd and is a biologist. Her channel is all about plecos if it interests you, highly recommended! Sadly there is a common misconception in general for many plecos like hypancistrus being carnivores too, even on planetcatfish it is stated so. I was feeding my hypancistrus this way. I learnt the actual diet a bit late too. They do eat meaty food if fed so, but that does not mean they are carnivores or natural to feed this way to them to my understanding. On 1/21/2024 at 9:01 PM, werd339 said: I have these pictures from my phone. Hopefully they help @mynameisnobody @Lennie Edit: The 2nd picture isn't the best for details but you can see that white striped pattern on his tail. I don't see it a lot while looking at other pleco online but it does pop up exactly when I google "royal pleco" so I only assumed very pretty. I want these one day too but they get very big. I cant say exactly what royal that is. I "think" it is a broken line L191. But I'm not sure. Planetcatfish says almost 20 inch for it. So 30g also wouldn't do it in the future unless you wanna keep growing the size and use tanks as grow out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 @Lennie this is the first time I’ve ever heard that they weren’t carnivores and planet catfish is very reputable. I’m not saying the above person is wrong, but I’ve fed and have seen quite a few keepers feed a purely carnivore diet with wood roughage. Also, who’s to say either of them are wrong, they could both very well be correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 9:43 PM, mynameisnobody said: @Lennie this is the first time I’ve ever heard that they weren’t carnivores and planet catfish is very reputable. I’m not saying the above person is wrong, but I’ve fed and have seen quite a few keepers feed a purely carnivore diet with wood roughage. Planetcatfish, for these guys, also does not say carnivores tho. To quote "All Panaque appear to feed on wood, so wood should be present in the tank. They also take prepared algae wafers and fresh vegetables (zucchini, cucumber, peas, green beans) and tubers (potato, yams and similar). " https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=642 On 1/21/2024 at 9:43 PM, mynameisnobody said: Also, who’s to say either of them are wrong, they could both very well be correct. Scientific papers. There is a long video she made on it showing some studies, but it is even longer. Just in case Im sharing it here maybe you or anyone else would be interested 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) @Lennie I’m getting my thorned pleco’s mixed up with these guys. It’s been years since I kept them. Thanks for the info, but as to the original post, I still stand by the suggestions I posted above. This pleco has no business in a 10 gallon. Edited January 21 by mynameisnobody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werd339 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2024 at 2:03 PM, mynameisnobody said: @Lennie I’m getting my thorned pleco’s mixed up with these guys. It’s been years since I kept them. Thanks for the info, but as to the original post, I still stand by the suggestions I posted above. This pleco has no business in a 10 gallon. I have emailed the local fish store to see if there's a best solution for my tank as well as the fish. Hopefully we can work something out and I do appreciate everything you all have helped with... If it's not painfully obvious by now I'm new 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmo1922 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 I don't necessarily think just because a pleco is an omnivore vs herbivore matters in all cases...it may be that you just get a little jerk! I kept a bristlenose female a few years back with 2 olive nerites. I kept hearing this clicking sound at night, over and over again, coming from the tank...it was driving me crazy...and my nerites always looked beat up. Come to find out, that clicking noise was the pleco bashing the nerites against the tank wall as she chewed on them. Eventually they both died...now that was my first tank so there may have been husbandry issues (pH, gH, etc) but I'm sure that bristlenose wasn't helping those nerites! Man, she loved chewing on those nerites. Despite her being fed well, having a huge piece of driftwood that she rasped on, and a sword plant she would destroy. My current pleco (clown) seems to leave my nerites alone, for what it's worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 (edited) Slightly off topic but that royal pleco will get larger than a 10 gallon aquarium; even as a small fish it should be in a larger aquarium. As for snail - dosn't matter to it. Oh one other thing this particular species is a *big* wood eater and you have no wood. Without wood (soft wood); it will have a short life. If the store knew you had a 10 gallon aquarium; i'd give them a 0 star rating and look for a better store. I mean there are some border line cases here but this is one fish that needs a large aquarium. How large - i mean by itself you could keep it in a 4 foot aquarium i guess but i'd go for a 6 foot 120 or larger. My flash pleco (L204) are only 6 inches and keeping one in a lightly stocked 29 works well but when i moved i added two 397 while i sorted things out and that was a big mistake; everyone got sick and there were a few deaths. Ended up throwing them into a 120 to keep them alive. - It isn't just about water quality it is also about stress. For a 10 gallon - forget pleco - even a clown pleco is really pushing it. There is a minature snowball (forget the species name) that is 2.5 inches but whatever. Don't get me wrong i use to overstock all my aquariums but now that i know better i can see the difference in a light stocking with regards to fish health. Btw shrimp do really well in a 10 gallon. Edited January 24 by anewbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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