Hi my name is Katie and i had a Plecostomus in with my 10 goldfish and the plecostomus was fine lastnight and then today i found him out of the tank behind the tank so i was wondering why or how he got out of the tank? he had died when i saw him behind the tank
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Katie

Aw Katie,

That is a shame. I don't know how he got out. Are you sure he was dead? I know it sounds strange but people on here have had found theur plec on the floor all dried up but then put it in some water and for it to be ok.

I can't remember who it was on here, but that has happened to a Koko's regular. Maybe they will see this and try to help you find out what happened.

Plecos definitely need lids on their tanks. Some goldfish are also jumpers, so if you don't have a lid, you should probably get one! If you have one and there's just a little bit of space that's uncovered, the goldfish will probably be fine, but you might want to cover it somehow if you plan on getting a new plec.

A lot of times when fish jump, it's from bad water conditions or other stressful things in the tank. How are your ammonia and nitrite? Has your pH changed lately? Did any of the goldfish pick on the pleco? Had he been eating ok? (I know sometimes goldfish are pigs and steal food meant for other fish.)

I'm really sorry about your loss... I lost one fish that jumped too, while my tank was cycling... it was a pearl danio, and I hadn't had it for long, but it's still sad.

Plecos Jump!

I see my pleco at night all teh time and he seems to be swiming around
and some times he seems to jump alittle.

Sorry to hear about your lost

hello everyone
well i got my pleco on the 26th of January and acouple days later i saw him and he was in the tank and then the next morning he was out of the tank beside the table and the wall but no room for him to drop to the movie box so i removed the movie box and stuck a bucket under the table where my pleco was and moved the table and the pleco fell into the bucket and i went downstairs to put water in the bucket but the pleco looked dead and stiff so i flushed it. and the water was dirty and i havent changed the tank water since my parents left on the 18th of January and they got back on the 25th and the next day my dad took me to nooppee to get some stuff for my hamster and we also decided to get me a algae eater so i got my pleco and we got some Algae Wafers for the pleco but the goldfish r such PIGS they didnt let the pleco eat and either the 29,30th is when my pleco was found outside the tank so when my parents went shopping and to nooppee again they got me a chinese algae eater wich was WAY smaller than my pleco and before they got home i put my goldfish into a bucket and i cleaned out the tank and the plants and i washed everything in soap and i CLEANED IT VERY GOOD and made shre there was no soap left over and i put duck tape over that opening that the pleco got out of. so now i got 10 happy goldfish and 1 happy chinese algae eater but when the chinese algae eater gets to be an adult im gonna have to remove it cuz it says that they can become aggresive as adults.
well im off for now so message me back
Katie

You stripped down your whole tank?! I don't know if you'll want to her this but you shoud never do that, unless there is serious disease and then the fish should not be put straight in as you are starting the cycling process!! I know people put fish in their tank during a cycle but only one or two. See the beginners section if you do not understand cycling.

As for your CAE (chinese algae eater), I am a bit worried about you keeping one of them with goldfish. They are tropical fish and need heated water. They are not effective as algae eaters, especially in colder water. Did you get it to eat algae?

I found the following:

http://centralpets.com/pages/critterpages/...h/FWF4474.shtml
http://www.petresources.net/fish/cyprinid/gyr_aym.html
http://tropical-fish.net/Scavengers/chines...algae_eater.htm
http://www.vwlowen.demon.co.uk/fish/chinese.htm
http://species.fishindex.com/species_3707g...lgae_eater.html

I think you should seriously consider taking your CAE back to your lfs or re-home it, unless you can cater for it. Maybe by putting it in a tropical tank, but you must make sure that it would be suitable considering other fish.

You should have been feeding your plec at night if it couldn't get the food. Plecs are largly nocturnal anyway. Did your plec have places to hide? The is essential to keeping a plec happy and healthy especially if it's in a cold tank as they are all tropical, although commons are ok in colder water as long as they are cared for more in terms of hinding space and so on. What kind of plec was it? It could have been one that doesn't eat algae. When I feed my plec, I give him a plec tablet but I ake sure I put it right up to him and also put another one at the other end of the tank for the other fish. I also feed algae wafers to my whiptail catfish.

How big is your tank? I expect you will be technically overstocked. Most people on forums like this one recommend that goldfish are kept with 10 gallons of water each. So, that would have to make your tank 100gallons. I personally do not follow the rule because I simply can't but I do understand it as goldfish are exceptionally messy fish in terms of the amount of waste they produce. This could also account for how dirty your tank got:



I don't think, in a good setup that your tank would have got that dirty in 7 days. Most people only do a 30% or so water change once a week anyway.

Please reply, I hope everything will be ok in your tank. I am going to pm you as well so that you get to read this. Edit: oh I can't as you are under 100 posts, I will try to email you instead...

hello
well i have a 10 gallon fish tank and i know that's too small for 10 goldfish and a CAE and i will bring the CAE back to nooppee but i dont think i can do that but i will try. my pleco was i think a common pleco and im sure it was to eat algae cuz it had a sucker mouth on it. well u can message me back or email me at brians_mommy2003@yahoo.com

Katie,

How are your fish doing now?

There are literally hundreds of fish with suckermouths and the vast, vast majority of them do not eat algae. Common plecs may eat algae when they are young but seem to grow out of it fairly quickly.

You are right to think that you have too many fish in a 10gall. Is it 10US galls? If so that is only 8.5UK and that is way to small. I have an 8.5 as a hospital tank and I would never keep fish in it for any amount of time.

You may want to ask about how you can help your fish in the goldfish discussion forum as more people will see it there. As for the CAE, you must take it back. It will not survive in that tank and is only adding to your bioload.

How long have you had your fish like that? What kinds are they? I know that commons need more room than most other goldfish as they can get very big.

Please reply,

Good luck.

ive had my 10 goldfish in a 10.US gallon tank since either October,November 2003 and i had my CAE for a few days now and it seems to be doing fine in my tank. maybe in the next few months im gonna save up for a 29.US Gallon tank so i hope that's big enough for my fishes
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Katie

Hi again Katie,

Most people wouldn't think that a 29US/24UK would be enough for all those fish either. I am not sure though as I have mine in a tank only a bit bigger (41US/35UK) and I think mine are fine.

What is the tempature of your tank? The CAE is a tropical fish and will need a tempature of 75F/25C but a bit higher is better. Unless your tank has a heater, is in a hot room or maybe beside a radiator then I don't see your tank getting to this tempature. Many people do heat their goldfish tanks and I think it's quite good forthem as long as it's not too high. However, I don't think the CAE is suitable for the tank in any case.

In the first link I gave you it says:

"Because they tend to grow rather large, they do much better in a large tank of at least 75-gallons."

and

"They are known to harass and terrorize tank mates. They can also attach themselves to the sides of other fish, which can seriously injure the other fish."

Did you read this? I seriously advise you to take the CAE back or rehome it, explaining why and making sure it is suitable for the new owner.

I would never keep them and IMHO you are not equiped to by way of space or requirements to look after it. Also, it may harms your goldfish later on and they don't have much room to get away.

Maybe you could get another type of these, if you were willing to heat your tank a bit, when you get a bigger tank. I am getting Siamese Flying Foxes (also known as siamese algae eaters) on Friday and these are different to the Chinese ones. They are not aggressive and will be very happy to eat algae as long as it's there.

This link gives information on both the Siamaese Flying Fox and the Chinese Algae Eater - http://www.fishpondinfo.com/sae.htm

For just a pic of the SFF - http://www.aquazoo.co.uk/Page.cfm/Type=Fish/ID=271 but this has little information.

You should have have a look, it's pretty useful as it's got them both together.

Let me know what you think of this, Dana.

hello again
my tank's temp varies from 69-73degrees depending on if the light stays on but when i turn off the tank lights the temp drops to around 69 then when the light r on all day the temp gets over 70. the tank lights go off during the night and come on during the day. lol it seems like my 10 goldfish r terrorizing the little CAE.
what does cycling mean?
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Katie

Yah plecos do jump mine always jumps. Its funny to watch

hello friend
i dont have my pleco anymore but i now have a chinese algae eater what is too small. it's like trying to find waldo in my fish tank.LOL. i also have 10 goldfish in my tank and i know it's WAY TOO small for all 10 goldfish but when i get enough $ im gonna save up and get a 29.US.Gallon tank for my fish.
well i gotta go cuz it's bedtime for me so i will ttyl
Katie