Do you have Plecos and turtles together?

[jamestanker]

I see Plecos and Turtles in tanks quite often and was hoping I was going to be able to have this combination.

I tried this today and picked up 5 small plecos for about $.60 total at the pet mall here in Manila called Cartimar. It is a large mall of pet stores, mostly fish stores that have pretty much any kind of fish you want right up to black tip reef sharks.

For some reason my turtles decided they had to be lunch. Only going after the Plecos I actually stopped one attack just before it happened. The turtles barely eat fish I have lots of fish in my tank. They eat pellets and shrimp almost exclusively.

I think the problem was the plecos were so docile not having a care in the world and most likely never having a predator of any kind around. They didn't move even when the turtle nudged them.

I'm going to have to try a larger fish. They don't mess with my other fish. occasionally they chase them but they have better luck hunting shrimp and I keep 50 to 100 ghost shrimp in the tank as food. They are about 2 cents each and are my live food.


I went into about 30 fish stores and they only had small about 2 inches long sizes. None of them had anything larger then that. I think something that is 5 inches or more will be larger then they will care about.


Do any of you have plecos and turtles together?

[Cory1990]

I don't think anyone else here has fish and turtles together, maybe you can look into another tank for the turtles.

[jamestanker]

The turtles are the main reason for the tank Ill find some larger Plecos

[Cory1990]

If you can't find larger ones grab a small tank and let the pleco live in there until larger. They grow pretty quick

[fishbubbles]

I did work at petsmart for a while and a lot of people said they had plecos with turtles. I think they are able to because of their hard-shell like bodies. But definatly call around and see if you can find larger ones.

[lohachata]

turtles eat fish....plecos are fish....
turtles also have strong jaws and sharp beaks...or whatever they are called......will chomp rith through a pleco....

[jamestanker]

Originally Posted by lohachata turtles eat fish....plecos are fish.... turtles also have strong jaws and sharp beaks...or whatever they are called......will chomp rith through a pleco....

You are absolutly correct however some fish live ok with turtles.

In my tank I have lots of swordtails and the turtles dont touch them. I bought them as a food as they were about 2 pennies each. Same with mollies they dont really touch them except for my marble mollies they ate them all LOL.


Im not complaining that they ate them. and at less then $.50 cents each its no a serious issue. Ill just find some bigger ones.

I did notice there is one pleco still alive and there not bothering him at all.

[Charlie1]

People do keep plecos with turtles and they seem to usually have no problem. I really do not know how as turtles eat fish and a pleco that sits in the corner all day is neon sign saying come eat me. So I would expect pleco deaths and I personally would never risk it. One problem that does happen often is the pleco will often attach himself to a turtle shell and the turtle's shell can start to develop sores, so that is something to look out for.

[jamestanker]

I got home from work tonight and saw two plecos on the glass. Survival of the fittest. It looked like the figured out how to use the powerhead as camoflage

[chronoboy]

My old neighbor had a Pleco with his turtle without a problem. Of coarse the pleco was the same length as the turtle (he got them both as babies). But shoot at that price I wouldn't let it bother me (if they survive then it was meant to be). And I'm not going to lie, I'm a little jealous of how cheap your fish prices are. I just moved to what seems like the most expensive fish prices I've ever seen. 3-4 bucks a piece just for neon tetras (not including tax) on top of the fact that I've yet to find a petstore with good fish keepoing practices.

[jamestanker]

I have had fishtanks a lot of my life I have worked in a lot of fish shops. Manila is the cheapest I have seen fish anywhere.

Next time I go to cartimar I will take some pics.

[jamestanker]

I was back at Cartimar today! I picked up a much larget Pleco he is about 6 inches long. He cost me 50 cents. they had a few I picked out the best looking and largest one at that price.


I also saw an awesome Pig nose turtle he was about 3 inches long. Super cool looking they wanted 5000 pesos thats about 110 dollars and someone told me about a leatherback turtle so of course I wanted to see it he said it was about 1 inch in size. When he came back from where it was he told me it was already sold.

[Angelclown]

That pleco looks just like the two I have. What kind of pleco is it exactly? I am thinking that they are leopard plecos but I could be wrong.

[Obsidian]

Here is the thing with your plecos- they will reach up to 1.5 to 2 feet each. You might want to have home ideas for them when they get that big. With a turtle I would say that the commons are the way to go- 5 is way heavy LOL. And definitely look out for them attaching to the shells. They will do that to things so you want to keep a close eye.

[jamestanker]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Here is the thing with your plecos- they will reach up to 1.5 to 2 feet each. You might want to have home ideas for them when they get that big. With a turtle I would say that the commons are the way to go- 5 is way heavy LOL. And definitely look out for them attaching to the shells. They will do that to things so you want to keep a close eye.

I guess you missed the part that all 5 ended up eaten. I bought a much larger one this week to replace them and the turtles dont dare touch him

He is longer then they are