pleco with an eel and stingray

[FishLoveLax]

Hey everybody! So I finally picked up the 55 gallon tank and got it all cleaned. It's cycling now, but whenever its done I plan on moving my tiretrack eel into it, and getting a freshwater stingray. I'd also like to get a pleco to help keep it clean, but I've heard horror stories of them latching onto fish and hurting them badly.

Would a pleco be alright with the ray and eel, or should I look to another type of algae-eater? If so, any recommedations? The eel seems to eat anything smaller than his mouth, (goldfish) so I gotta keep that in mind. Thanks a bunch.

[Scuba Kid]

no freshwater ray will be able to able to live in a 55 gallon tank long term. do you know what kind of freshwater stingray it is anyway?

and yes, plecos are known to suck the mucus coating off stingrays and kill them. some do, some dont. depends on the pleco.

the stingray will also eat anything that will fit in it's mouth. if you look in the fish profiles section, i made a profile on P. Reticulata, a species of freshwater ray. it has a lot of general information on keeping rays that you should take a look at, because even the smallest available freshwater stingray will need AT LEAST a 125 gallon tank, more preferably a 180 gallon.

[sarah1031]

If you get some adult sized canas (snails) I highly doubt that they will get eaten... they are really big. They do however like to escape and the multiply rapidly. I am with Scuba Kid though when he says your going to need a bigger tank for a freshwater sting ray

[MarineFish]

in my personal experience i have known EVERY pleco i put in with a sting ray sucked on them except whne we used a queen

[flamingo]

A definite NO on this one. All has already been said as to why you can't.

Btw, i've had enough troubles (my cousin also) with keeping plecos and the like off large cichlids like oscars, don't even want to see what'll happen with a fish that sits on the bottom a lot of the time.

When I had my stingray everything would try and lay on it, a pleco would probably have annihilated it.

[MDsaints]

the only reason why plecos latch onto other fish from what i know is jsut for territory and for food. the ones i had would latch onto the fish to get them off the bottom and then he'd continue eating his pellet

[flamingo]

Most type of plecos latch onto fish to eat the skin slime and scales possibly. My cousin's pleco does that to his tiger shovelnose cats. It'll suck onto them until they have giant white patches on them.