Are Silver-tip BN Plecos Social Fish ????

[BostonBob]

What I mean is do they do OK by themselves in a tank or is it better to have 2 or more ???? The reason I'm asking is because today I woke up to find 1 of my 2 silver-tip Plecos dead. I'm really not sure what happened as all my water perimeters tested OK. I do know that 1 of the Plecos always took off whenever the other one got too close. I never saw any aggressiveness but there might have been some going on. Anyway - I was just wondering if I should add another pleco to my tank ( 30 gallon lightly planted Community tank ) or if the sole silver-tip Pleco will be OK on its own.

[2wheelsx2]

It depends on a lot of things. I assume this tank has been running for while so there is no chance of a mini-cycle? How long have you had the BNP's? What size were they? If they were 2 males that were full grown, you could have certainly had some aggression issues.

As to your 1st question, plecos are generally ok by themselves, but there is no reason to have more if your setup has lots of hiding places/territories for them.

The one that is dead, was the belly full? Normally colouration? ie, no black belly?

[BostonBob]

It depends on a lot of things. I assume this tank has been running for while so there is no chance of a mini-cycle? How long have you had the BNP's? What size were they? If they were 2 males that were full grown, you could have certainly had some aggression issues.

The tank has been running for years. I got those BN Plecos 2 to 3 months ago from anessa. They were both about 2.5 inches and I couild not tell the sexes as they have not started growing bristles yet. Like I said before - I never saw any aggressiveness ( not even when they were both feeding from the same algae wafer ) but ( outside of feeding ) 1 Pleco usually used to bolt away whenever the other 1 got too close.

The one that is dead, was the belly full? Normally colouration? ie, no black belly?

Physically the dead Pleco look OK ( except that it wasn't breathing anymore ) as there were no marks on him/her and its stomach was not caved in.



Thanks for the info. I think that I will just go with 1 Pleco right now and see how it does on it's own.

[Death's Sting]

BN plecos are not schooling fish, therefore, u don't not need to keep them in groups. i keep 10 in a 50 gallon and they never really come close to one another. they just hang out on the glass and individual leafs all day. the only time i see them come together is when i feed them. with that being said; i don't see a problem in keeping them solo.

[gimlid]

what does the swollen belly indicate?
I have had several die on me over the last 4 months in a good cycled tank with good water quality as far as I can tell.

[Death's Sting]

what does the swollen belly indicate?

could be any of the following:

-Internal blockage

-Internal Parasite

-Internal infection

-Internal bleeding

-external wound that is not healing properly

[2wheelsx2]

what does the swollen belly indicate?
I have had several die on me over the last 4 months in a good cycled tank with good water quality as far as I can tell.

In general, in herbivorous/omnivorous plecos, the bloat is insufficient fiber/incorrect diet. If you have BNP's and there is no wood in the tank and they are not getting a steady diet of greens (for instance, if the tank is not planted and houses mainly carnivorous fish) then they are prone to this. However, I've had a lot of BNP's in the last couple of years, and have no had this problems, since most BNP's are domestically bred now and well adapted to local aquarium life.

If it's not a diet issue, then it is mostly likely an infection or a parasite issue (as suggested by Death's Sting above).