Feeding and Nutrition :: <sigh> Was too good to last forever!

[Cim*Forever]

This evening I witnessed the eating of Picasso, my Pleco. I had him for.... 4 months-ish. Just a warning to those people with turtles that don't eat their fish right away, don't name your fish, they'll go eventually

[drtweak]

lmao yea we bought 5 fancy guppies for our turtles...

4 of them were gone with in 3 days...

Slayer is the only one left and im suprised he is still alive!

[maryR]

Plecos can be dangerous when eaten by Turts...It has these hard little daggers that can hurt the turtle it is somewhere on this site...My sis had one in her tank and I told her to get him outta there. Correct me if I'm wrong folks
But I know I just read about this not long ago.

[SpotsMama]

Plecos are like catfish aren't they? With the sharp spikes that stick out around the head? The spikes could hurt a turtle just as they could hurt you if you tried to swallow some without chewiing.

[mat012]

Yes they are catfish. It is more the fins that might cause problems I think. There is a pretty gruesome account here about the fins of a pleco getting partially stuck inside the turtles mouth (was it the fins??). I think if we were to count up the stories of plecos being eaten with no problem they would outnumber those that have had issues. But still I would assume there is a risk. I dont believe they are as problematic as other sharp finned fish like barbs, sharks, etc.

Plecos get so big that you would eventually have to get rid of it anyway. Most tanks arent large enough as they can get up to 18" or larger.

You could try Siamese algae eaters or even mystery snails if algae is a problem. The Siamese are supposed to be good eaters, snails much less so. But I dont think they would hurt the turtle if eaten. (Please correct this if it is wrong).

All that said - I have one in my tank and he's a little worker bee. The turtle hasnt paid a bit of attention, but like you said Cim*... you never know, so dont get too attached

[Cim*Forever]

I too had heard horror stories about the spikes getting stuck, so it was always at the back of my head, I was caught between leaving him and taking him out. This is also the reason I quickly rescued the other half of my pleco out of the tank and watched my turtle carefully. Rossco is fine

I won't be putting another pleco back in though, even though he was a terrific asset to my tank.

[roseK]

iidk they only time i see my turtle touch the plec is because he sits on him! poor thing.

ive only been told a horror story, about a pleco that sucks out turtles eyes

most algea eating fish as they grow become more agressive and stop eating algea. im not sure the specific kinds, i dont think a common plec is on that list, but i kno chinese algea eaters do, th golden ones.

[Cim*Forever]

I heard from the pet store employee(he seemed very knowledgeable, he quizzed me about turtles and I quizzed him, we both passed ) I bought my pleco from (and im pretty sure he was just an average pleco) that when they do get older they do stop eating algea and thats when you need to buy them algea waffers.

[Bladedvixen]

ok... insert icthyology knowledge (I knew that college thing would come in handy)

Plecos are part of the family Loricaridae (the armored catfish)

Loricaridae have armored plates underneath the skin made of bone. This much resembles the sturgeon (however the plates only share function and the 2 species are unrelated)

These plates are hard and bony and can get stuck in the digestive tract of the turtles. All in all, eating a pleco would be much like taking a whopping bite of the dreaded "fish tank gravel"

while the risk is not as pronounced as with eating gravel, it is still there and can still be deadly for your turtle.

plecos never stop eating algae, they just need more to live off of. Their suckermouth was designed to rasp at algae which is why there are basically a bottom feeder. The only reason you would ned to buy algae discs is if there is NO algae in the tank. In most cases, one pleco cannot keep up with the rate that algae grows and is really adding more waste to the tank than keeping it clean.

[VanishingReality]

I've had a snail for months and my turtle seems to have no interest in it besides kicking it... so you could try a snail?

[roseK]

a snail actually lived in ur tank? my turtle eats snails... im pretty sure a plec has a better chance of surviving that a snail

[marisa]

I think it depends on the turtle. Some of my turts have more interest in eating snails than others.

[VanishingReality]

Yeah and he still lives in my tank. It has a pretty good life too, it eats the bits of veggies left from Crush and beside the occasional kick from Crush he has nothing to worry about. The only time he gets kicked is when Crush "redecorates" his rocks which leads me to believe he thinks it is a rock. It has a white shell and his rocks are white. It has crawled all over Crush and in front of him and he still doesn't see it as food.

Then again he is selective of which minnows he sees as food as well... picky little brat!

[Cim*Forever]

ok... insert icthyology knowledge (I knew that college thing would come in handy)

Plecos are part of the family Loricaridae (the armored catfish)

Loricaridae have armored plates underneath the skin made of bone. This much resembles the sturgeon (however the plates only share function and the 2 species are unrelated)

These plates are hard and bony and can get stuck in the digestive tract of the turtles. All in all, eating a pleco would be much like taking a whopping bite of the dreaded "fish tank gravel"

while the risk is not as pronounced as with eating gravel, it is still there and can still be deadly for your turtle.

plecos never stop eating algae, they just need more to live off of. Their suckermouth was designed to rasp at algae which is why there are basically a bottom feeder. The only reason you would ned to buy algae discs is if there is NO algae in the tank. In most cases, one pleco cannot keep up with the rate that algae grows and is really adding more waste to the tank than keeping it clean.

This is a terrific amount of information, thanks for that. A little bit scary though