i bought my little butterfly plec yesterday (no name as yet - all suggestions welcome!!) and at first he was happy, clinging to the glass and shooting around. but this morning, i found him clinging onto the power block of my internal filter thing. not clinging to the glass and hiding behind it, which would be fine, but actually sucking onto the power block bit. now, my weather loach, guinness, used to curl up round the power block during the day, and he died a horrible death with internal bleeding that i'm sure was in part caused by the (ver slight) vibration of the power block thing. i don't want my new plec to go the same way am i just being paranoid? i just got him and i DON'T want him to die!!!

It doesn't sound like you are being paranoid at all if you have a previous bad experience and you see that the new fish is starting a similar thing that ended up being tragic for your other fish.

I have always used outside hanging filters--I am not sure what kind you have that would have something that would vibrate inside the tank. So I don't have a suggestion except that maybe to change what you are using to something safer?

I hope that someone with more experience with this will reply.

Good luck!

it's just an internal filter. it's all inside the tank, and the power wire goes out and into the plug. i didn't know there were any other types! there's a bit at the top which drives the pump, pushing water thru the bottom part, which contains the bio-sponge thing and the activated carbon. like anything, the motor in the top bit causes the top bit to vibrate ever so slightly...just like a tiny buzz when you put your finger on it...

when i checked my water levels this lunchtime, the ammonia and nitrites were a little high, so i did a partial water change. this meant the plec had to move! he went and sucked onto the glass at the front, and started munching away at the algae whilst i messed around in the bucket with de-chlorinator and stuff...then i looked up to find arnie and nemo chasing the poor thing round the tank!! no wonder he's hiding behind the filter!! does anyone have a suggestion or any idea why the other fish want to kill my little plec?! yesterday they went up to him and had a look, but swam away again, seemingly uninterested. do you think they're hungry and are trying to eat him?

How big is your tank? How many fish are in it?

Once again, I am not an expert, but I have seen goldfish eating other fish (this was in a local fish store).

The fish being eaten were somewhat weakened and some were dead already--they were pearlscales that had been dyed to be green and blue. But the other goldfish were quite fierce about eating them. I also have seen goldies bully other fish.

I have heard that it is best not to mix goldies with other fish. But on this board, people do it and I am hoping that one of them will reply.

My advice to you would be to separte the new fish (plec) because it sounds like he is being picked on and is trying to hide.

Hmm, it's a difficult one because all fish are so different in personality. My fat oranda Carmen could quite easily fit one of my otos in her mouth if she so chose, but luckily all of my fish are quite docile and so I have never had any problems. Maybe you could add a hidey hole for the little plec? I used a piece of lava rock which is shaped like a doughnut (from PAH) for my otos when I first got them, it meant they could retreat down the hole when they felt nervous. Maybe you could try something similar-it might also give him a new home rather than behind the filter. Generally the plec, if anything like my otos, will swim much faster than the goldfish and will be able to avoid their advances, but keep an eye on them all the same. Another thing you could try which sometimes works with territorial goldies is to rearrange the tank decor. Basically to the goldies it seems as though they've been put in a new home and therefore the established pecking order is destroyed, leaving them all on an even level. Maybe it would work with quarrels between different species too? HTH

What about putting a divider in the tank - put the plec on the side without the filter. This way he is protected from the fish and the filter. This may get the othe fish use to him. Just a thought.

Well before i lost all my fish i had both of these problems (sucker fish sitting on power head, and territorial goldfish) The suckers were tropicle and in my tropicle tank where i had a small power head for water flow, basicle to get water running through some hollow orniments. I just put a large tall fake plant in front of the power head and on both sides. Soon the sucker got anoyed enough at trying to get through the plant after each water change, he found a new home on my lil castle. I donno if this will work for all catfish.

About the meeny goldfish, they seem to not like things they do not grow up with. I had one 15 gallon with 3 comets in it and 2 snails that been together since they got there. I then got 2 fan tails from a friend and i figured till i bought a new tank for them, it would be ok to keep them with the comets. BIG NO NO, the next morning both fan tails were missing most of there fins and dying poor guys (. Goldfish dont eat the other fish they just rip there fins off and kill it cause they don't like it. Hmm so that sucked i just killed 2 fish. I got the 15 gallon anyways set it up. and a week later bought 2 fan tails for it and i could add 50(i dident really) fish to the fan tail tank and they would be calm as ever hmmm.... To make a long story short, when 1 of my comets died after 5 years (. I decided to combine the 2 tank into a 55 gallon. the fan tails were huge now and the comets bigger but not as big. For 3 days the comets beat up the fan tails chaseing them and picking at them. The fan tails just swam away, i guess fan tails have more stamina than comets, cause the comets would get tired and give up after a short chasing. After 3 days of meeny comets i wake up to see all 4 fish swimming together and eating together. One of my science teachers had same thing, a stundent gave him a fish and his Common goldie were beating that guy up for a few days then they became friends. I think its mostly just a way to create a pecking order. Seeing the plec is probable not tough enough for goldfish abuse i think a hiding spot would work untill all fish become friends ). Its meen but it is part of there natual habits. I think common goldfish and comets are meener than the fancy ones, but i have only had 2 fancy goldfish

Wow, I know a pond is different but I have never had any mean fish and I have had a lot of different kind.