Missing Pleco

[canuckaquarist]

Hey there,

I have not seen my Pleco for a full day now. I moved around and looked in all my decorations and plants, no sign of him. My aquarium is completely covered, so I doubt he jumped out, plus I looked all over the floor.

All I have in this aquarium is 3 Raspboras, 2 White Clouds, 2 Silver Dollar Tetra, and 3 Amano Shrimp plus this missing Pleco.

I also checked the filter wondering if somehow he got up into it, nothing there also.

Any else have any weird fish disappearances like this? Can Plecos maybe bury themselves under gravel? Could Tetras and Amano Shrimp possibly eat a Pleco?

Thanks,
- CA

 

[Zagz]

Yes they can hide very well. Your other fish couldn't have eatn him. He is most likely hiding somewhere very well. Do you have sand as a substrate? He may be hiding in the sand.

 

[neilanh]

They are very good at hiding. I sometimes go days without seeing mine.

 

[canuckaquarist]

Thanks for the replies.

I do not have sand, I have little round pebbles. I literally searched that whole aquarium now and have not found him. Odd, I will keep my eye out to see if he pokes out somewhere, a fish literally can't disappear?

 

[Purrbox]

I've had fish simply disappear never to reappear, however they were small fish and there were lots of snails present which could easily clean up any traces.

 

[Skyrmir]

The other thing that makes them hard to find is that plecos can change color to a degree. Pretty much freaked me out when I moved my pleco inside a red bucket once. They also attach themselves fairly well, so if you removed some ornament, be careful, they might be suction cupped to the bottom of it.

 

[warped1]

I agree ... they can hold on to things very well. I removed an aqua clear (HOB) filter from a tank to give it a cleaning and found that the pleco was attached to the underside of the water return .... and I can tell you he startled me when he decided to jump off.

 

[gsongy]

Call Mulder and Scully, we have an abduction! Just joking, hope it turns up!

 

[Ilovefish]

Have you checked the back side your heater? Mine is always on the heater.

 

[Courtney8526]

I don't know how common this is but I found mine under my tank stand. I guess he got out through the hole the filter goes in.

 

[Ilovefish]

Wow! That is weird!

 

[neilanh]

Sorry for your loss.