I was stupid and hard headed and had to see for myself
I guess. The whole story in a nutshell is. I have a common
pleco in with my goldies. Guess what? Now my poor babies
have missing scales. No matter what I did. I was
overloaded with algea. In my newly cycled tank. They
cleaned all of that out within the first 2 days. I could get
another tank for the plecos. I have found out that they need
alot of room too. All of them are in a 55 gallon. I don't
have room for another tank that size. Would a smaller tank
be sufficent enough? I don't want to just buy some time
neither. Either way I can't do anything until tommorrow.
If I leave my aquarium lights on tonight too will it stress
out my poor babies even more I just thought
my plecs maybe wouldn't do anymore damage w/the
lights on. Please Help!

Go to the pet store and maybe trade them in for bristlenoses or rubbernoses??
In any case,,,GET THEM OUTTA THERE!!!!!!

If worse comes to worse...house the plecos in something else untill you figure things out, or portion off a section of the tank with a divider...now that the plecos know how good goldies taste, they are not going to stop.

Let us know how things work out.

Hugs
Susong

Long term, the common plecs are not going to be happy in a smaller tank. In fact, in the long run they will get mighty close to outgrowing a 55. You are going to need to find a way to get rid of them, taking them back to the pet store, or giving them to someone with a big tank are probably your best bets. In any case, get them out of your tank tonight, put them in a bucket if you have to, they should be able to handle one night w/o a filter and you can take them to a store tomorrow.

In the future stick to rubberlip or bristlenose plecs, they stay *much* smaller and don't tend to need the protein in their diet that makes common plecs turn on other fish.

Huh... dunno which type of Pleco I have, but he seems to do fine with my two goldies... He even joins in at feeding time Dunno... Think he's a common.
And no. Leaving the lights on wont stress them out... I lsometimes leave the lights on all night when I'm off from work ( I work nights). They seem fine. In fact, I'm not so sure they dont nap in the shade of the plants...
Sorry about your dilema! I'm sure you have it solved by now but I would suggest, as Susong did, to take him back and either trade him for something else, or find a buyer in your local area....
Sorry, that's about all the help, for what it's worth, that I can give...

This is the first I've heard about common plecs latching on to other fish, I have heard of CAE's doing this though. Is it only goldfish? I am very curious, I have a 6 inch sailfin in with angelfish & gouramis, and have never had a problem.

Just to let you guys know whats going on.
I have each plec in their own 10 gallon
for two weeks and then. My Dh and I
have come to the understanding that
we don't need two sets of dressers in
our bedroom we need a big ol' plec
tank!