Is that normal behavior for a pleco - Aquarium Advice

agentpreppy · 10-17-2003, 09:49 AM

My pleco I got this past weekend decided that all was not right with the world and jumped out of the tank. I hadn't heard of them doing that so I'm wondering, has anyone else had a pleco jump out of the tank? Of course, I didn't notice right away, I just thought he was hiding.

Terry · 10-17-2003, 10:29 AM

Pleco's are very powerful swimmers and if the top is open they can jump out. It is not there intention to do so, it is probably shooting up to the top for a gulp of air and carried on going.

I hope that he is alright after his ordeal.

snapcrackler · 10-17-2003, 11:13 AM

Perhaps your pleco was a little skittish from the move, and like Terry said, zoomed up to the top and accidentally flew out. I have noted in the past that new plecos will zoom around too fast until they get happy with the tank and settle down.

I hope he is OK. The pleco is one tough mutha.

On a side note, the other day I noticed one of my plecos in my clown loach tank swimming upside down all over the very surface of the water, it was a real trip to watch. He did it when I fed the clowns. Maybe he decided he wanted to try some of the clown food instead of algae, for a change.

agentpreppy · 10-17-2003, 11:17 AM

The pleco is sure to be alright where he is now

I didn't go looking for him outside of the tank for a few hours because I thought he was hiding. When I still hadn't seen him later is when I looked outside of the tank. My guess is that even if I had looked outside the tank when I first noticed he wasn't around, he still wouldn't have made it because it was first thing in the morning. He went airborne in the night, no chance for survival.

snapcrackler · 10-17-2003, 11:30 AM

I've had a few various kinds of fish jump out in the past too.....

sorry to hear about your pleco.

I have heard about a storm loach or kuhli loach jump out and stay alive on the carpet all night because it secreted some kind of mucous stuff to stay alive. That's wild.

I had a suicidal black apple snail once that kept pushing up the plastic trim in back and jumping out, I would always find him on the carpet with about three feet of dried slime trail behind him, I'd toss him back in, he'd rehydrate and jump out again the next night.

Allivymar · 10-17-2003, 05:41 PM

What's your nitrogen levels (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate)? If they are high, he may have actually been trying to get away from em.

And I feel for ya; my bamboo shrimp tried accelerated evolution night before last and I found him on the carpet in the morn. He was still alive but just couldn't get over the lack of water and died later in the day.

William · 10-17-2003, 07:44 PM

I recently had a crab [ different then Hammers Girlfriend's great escape ] escape from its tank

Was out for most of the day while I was at work, came home to find him sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor looking at me. O_o

and my Pleco has tried to jump out of the water before, of course he thunked his head on the cover, fell back into the water, and continued as if everything was fine.

Same deal with the [acronym:0798d871ff="Chinese Algae Eater"]CAE[/acronym:0798d871ff].