Nov 24 2007
Mixing Plecos with Goldfish
Many readers have asked about mixing goldfish with other fish species, especially plecostomos (plecos, or catfish). The answer is generally no. Here’s why.
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To start with, interspecies agression is be common. Plus, goldfish like their water colder than tropical fish, and create massive amounts of ammonia all on their own - which is enough for most people to worry about keeping up with. Goldfish can also grow to be quite huge, given a large enough habitat to make them properly happy.
It’s possible to mix Plecos (Plecostomos plecostomos) with your goldfish, the types who can tolerate colder temps. Those are the mouth-sucker catfish, and if they actually leave the goldfishes alone, this is a decent combination. Personally, I have not had any problems with plecos, but I have heard horror stories, so it’s best to be very alert if you choose to add one to your goldie tank.
The The Goldfish : An Owner’s Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet warns that some plecos inexplicable develop a taste for sucking out fancy goldfish eyeballs.
Okay, yuck. They do say that this happens to the protruding eye fish, and that it’s mainly the coldwater catfish that do this. Catfish rasping the sides of goldfish bodies isn’t an appealing concept, either. Talk about harrassment! One reader writes:
Common “plecos” are not good choices for goldfish tanks. While some are not a problem, many tend to acquire a taste for the slime coat of goldfish for some odd reason. Because many of the fancy goldfish are not strong swimmers, a pleco may cause injury through continuous rasping of the side of the fish. Now this is on top of the fact that common plecos can easily attain sizes of 16″+ making them a very poor choice for a small aquarium.
A nasty image and not good for your goldfish if it happens.
To repeat, I have not had any problems with my plecos acting out these odd behaviors, but you’ll want to think carefully about adding one to your goldfish tank - and keep a close eye out, if you do! Please email me if you have any advice or stories to share on this controversial topic, or post them to the Fish Forum.
UPDATE - A reader Responds
“What particular Loricariidae species are you calling a wall-sucker catfish? The problem with “plecos” is the fact that they are particularly hard to identify. True or Common Plecos are Hypostomus plecostomus. Sailfin Plecos are closely related and are Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps. Most people can’t tell the difference and many times they are marketed either way. Even worse is the fact that because of the great number of Loricariidae (armored sucker mouth catfish), most individuals simply can’t identify them properly nor can the fish stores. Many times the only way to properly identify them is by knowing exactly what region they were imported from. There are such a great number of similar species that they in fact that many have no species name, only a number to identify them (such as the L037).
Stumble it!
