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i have a gold nugget pleco,since i lost my large gt male who was the peace keeper,the pleco has been getting real aggresive,he chases all the cichlids in the tank around,even more so at dinner time,and when he can get them off gaurd,he trys to pin them down!
like i mean he gets them on there side on the bttom of the tank!
he always does this to my small green terror.
why is he doing this,and whats with the bad aggresion!
also about 3 weeks ago,hes gotten really confident,he now comes to the top with all the cichlids and gets his food there!
is this normall?

gold nugget plecos are onr of the more aggressive plecos and like to suck on the slime coat on most fish thats y u dont keep plecos with gars, bichirs, and stingrays... how big is it and wat size tank?

IME, that isn't really normal. I haven't seen my gold nugget in weeks, they are fairly light shy.

Are you sure you don't have one of the gibbiceps type plecs? Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus are called gold spot plecs. These fish are less light shy, tough, and I wouldn't put it past one of them to do something like that.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

no i got some wild caught ones and they are around 9 inches long and the beat up on some of my fish in my tank so im gona sell them or buy a new tank and see if i can start a breeding coloney. the main problem with any larger fish is they have there own personality and once it became the head of the tank it has been showing its domanaice. how big is the pleco and what size fish are in the tank with it?

Ah, a 9" fish is completely different from an immature 3-4" fish, which is more of a standard size for gold nuggets sold in stores.

My gold nugget is with corys and some oil catfish.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I've had some large, large nuggets, and none of them are particularly aggressive, especially against smaller fish. I have had rambunctious pterygoplichthyiids, so I'm going to side with shini on this one.

Also, large nuggets are expensive. Mine was a swap, but at the store, was listed at 150, and mind you, this is a cheap store.

yup its a gold nugget for sure,i got it from a top quality local catfish breeder/importer!
ive also checked mine against pictures on planet catfish and its a gold nugget for sure.
im not sure if its male or female.
i got it when it was about 2 inches long,now its a robust 7 inches!
the tank its in is a 55gal,its been in there since i got it.
this gold nugget is different to the others ive had,althought they look the same,as shinni said,i hardly seen them,but not this fella!
i got him to take a block of worms out my fingers yesterday,now in all the years ive kept catfish,i NEVER got them to hand feed.not even close!
but this gold nugget,has no fear,im not joking,its taken the biggest house in the tank,and if 1 of the tankmates goes in there,LOOK OUT,he chases them all round the tank,with the speed of a rocket.
also this fella grew quite fast,my gold nugget over took my mates 1,and hes was in a larger tank,and he had his b4 me!
the tank mates are blue acaras and green terrors,they range in size from a small green terror,up to a large female green terror,the blue acaras are medium sized!
so yeah its a real nasty bugger!

Watch out- baryancistrus are not heavy protein feeders. Keep him on mostly vegetables.

hey cup,the weird thing is,this gold nugget prefers the meater foods,cichlid pellets,them sorts of foods.
i have a slew of vegies on hand,as i have a 33cm common pleco,who is a vegie eating machine,
however,the gold nugget in question,
he just plane refuses to eat vegies-lettuce,cucumber,zucini,algae pellets.
when i first got it,i was really concered with this,but when i asked the breeder who i got him from,he said well you cant make them eat it,if they dont like it!
then,when he seen how much it had grown in such a short time,he said keep doing what your doing.its doing fine,that was ages ago.after that i stopped even trying,
all the green vegies were just rolling around the tank going to waste.
there is one pellet that it does eat,but that is a 2 in 1,a meat and a vegie pellet.
the last time i did try some lettuce,i even left it in over nite,
the next moring it hadnt been touched!....
so really i dont know how to get it to eat the greens,this is the ONLY plec ive had that didnt love the vegies.
my common pleco,he takes a whole lettuce leaf to himself,and my feather fin,he will take ANYTHING green.
the last gold nugget i had,was a green eating machine.
but as i said,not this gold nugget,its like no other plec ive had...