I have a group of 5 Lepidiolamprologus hecqui (Mbita) in a 38 gallon tank and their getting big enough to start breeding. I added a rather big 5" pleco due to brown algae, did a great job cleaning the whole tank in just 3 days. Since the hecqui are rather aggressive I figured a bigger pleco would not get beat up by the 3"- 31/2" shellies. Now I'm wondering will the pleco eat the fry at night time while doing his job?
It really depends on specific pleco. The short answer is yes. I've seen a few bristlenose plecos kept with young fry, but I have even had adult male bristlenose develop a taste for fry. Most of the hypostomus species (common pleco) will eat everything they can, including fry.
Well, your hecqui should do a pretty good job of parenting, and might kill the pleco if they perceive it as a threat to their offspring. However, I was able to breed smaller plecos (Ansistrus spp.) in a 20 gallon tank with breeding caudopunks. Both raised fry successfully, though I expect many of either were lost to the other.
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