missing pleco :sad:

[astrocella]

i can't find him anywhere

he's about 2 inches long.. cost me $35.. a king tiger i think it was? but yeah.. yesterday he was here, now he's completely gone. i searched the entire tank up and down...

all that's in this tank are goldfish, and a 7 inch 'common' pleco.. did someone eat him?? i looked around the floor, but found nothing.. is it possible he jumped?

this sucks
if you see him let me know :?

 

[fishfreek]

Do you have any decorations in the tank? I have seen plecos cram themselves into the smallest of spaces. It might be good to turn over some of the decroations in the tank in search. Maybe he is jammed up inside something staying out of the light.

 

[Grant R]

Don't be unhappy until the worst possible thing has happened - at the moment, he is probably still alive ! I've thought I had lost fish before, it is staggering how well fish can hide and as fishfreek said, even wedge themself into ornaments, around plants and probably anything else.

Good luck, don't give up !

 

[sunsplash76]

Cheer up. I have thought my plecostemus went missing a bunch of times. He was in fact just skillfully hidden. They can get into places you wouldn't imagine; and with such docile fish in the tank a murder sounds a bit strange. 35$ I hope you find him, and ground him for his bad behavior, lol. No algae wafers for 2 days, ha ha. I paid less than 5$ for mine.

 

[Guest]

Did he show up yet?

I killed one during a move that way once, hidden in some decor, found him dried up when I got to the new place, very sad.

Sunsplash, astro said it was a king tiger pleco, those and some of the other rare pleco's cost some $$$. The standard pleco is pretty cheap, what kind do you have?

 

[sunsplash76]

Corvuscorax~
I have one of those cheap run of the mill plecostemus He is I think a bushynose pleco if I remember correctly. He is probably just adding to the bio-load and not helping much. I don't know what to use that could also help clean. My tank is doing well, but seems to be messier faster lately. I'm thinking of adding supplemental filtration as maybe the one filter is not doing the job. I may save up for one of these magnum or fluval thingy filters. I don't know the difference between regular filter and canister? Does the canister require a sump or any additional items with it? My 4 cichlids seem to be quite messy. I also feed them firemouth cichlid stix, when chewed they can be pretty dirty. I try to feed them more flakes and pellets as well as frozen food. I went way off track didn't I, he he.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hey sun,

What ground feeders do you have in your tank?
What filter do you currently have?

I have some apple snails in with my cichlids that help with the clean up of the substarte and the algae should there be any?
I also have some Pakistan loaches which are probably the only ground dwelling fish you could have in a cichlid tank as they are very hard fish.

I have a Pimpictus that I will be throwing in as well in my 130G.

I await your answers.

 

[Grant R]

i can't find him anywhere

Have you had any luck yet ?

 

[astrocella]

i just HAD to find out where he went, so i took out all the gravel and combed through it all in case he buried himself... nothing.

as far as decor goes... the only one is that has hidden areas is this fake stump thing i got from petsmart.. it has a slight burough in it.. like inside the 'roots'... it's really narrow, but i'm hoping he's in there. the only thing is.. if he's not out by now he's stuck. probably dead

the only other possibility is the cats i have.. maybe they dug him out and had their way.. but i HIGHLY doubt it. 'bastard' (he cost a lot ) never really came to the top, and my cats have never really dug around in the tank.

i think he's logged in the stump.. way down there.. probably stuck. and honestly, probably dead.


i'll get another one.. a bigger one. the unique plecos are the only way to go i say...

poor bastard

 

[sunsplash76]

somethingfishy~
I currently have an aquatech filter made by regent. My 55 was a combo tank from walmart with filter included. I want to know more about these pricey canister filters I hear about. Does it have disposable cartridges to use and are they expensive? Or do you have to make your own for them? Maybe I will get a bio-wheel filter to add on, I'm not sure yet. 8O

The only bottom ground feeder I have is the one bushynose plecostemus, that's it. I saw some snails at the pet store, but wasn't sure about getting them. I need something more powerful than my current pleco. Maybe a catfish would help. Good thing I do weekly water changes of 25%, so it stays decently clean. There you have my answers, lol.

 

[Grant R]

Astrocella, don't worry too much yet. Don't forget that even if a fish jumps out of a tank for sometimes up to an hour, it can still be revived, the same way some can go up to 60 days without food. If you're fish did get jammed, just hope it wasn't too stressful.

Fish are surprising little creatures, theres a good chance it could still be alive.

 

[SleeplessLwd]

I lost my pl*co a about a month ago. I found him alive and well in my aquaclear filter. He must have jumped in there some how and had to have been in there for a least four days before I found him when I was doing my water change. Also Check you tank at night with a flash light. Some pl*cos hide until the room is dark. I hope you find him alive and well.
Just from past experience...I have gone through the expensive pl*cos, Zebra, Gold Nugget and a couple of others and I've found that the cheap ones do a much better job. EMS503 also had some of the expensive ones too and he tells people that he thinks they'll just ornamental. He had the same problem with the expensive ones hiding, not working and dying easily.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hey there sun,

I could not find any info on the Aquatech filter you are using so I assume it is an internal one?
My personal opinion is I don't really lilke the internal filters.
The canister filters I prefer as they are easier to maintain and clean. No they do not have any cartridges, they use seperated media consisting of carbon, if needed, wool, some 'marble stones and a coarse sponge.

As for the bottom feeders the pl*co was not intended to be a bottom feeder but more and algae control expert, so the fact that he does not clean the substrate does not really surprise me, but then again you do get some that will do some cleaning. I have a couple of Pakistan loaches that I keep to clean the substrate as well as ther snails who do both jobs, clean the substrate and help with algae prevention.

As for catfish, I would not try and put cories in, as not being very 'hardy' fish, they do have spikey fins. When the cichlids, protect their territory and they could get caught by the spikey fins of the cories and could die.

These are the other guys I plan on putting in my tank with the cichlids:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=1191
They are also very cool customers, I hope they work out OK? Will have to wait and see.

 

[d9hp]

i have a 10 gallon kit from walmart and it is a POS. Well at least the heater and the filter. I want a good filter but dont wanna spend $50.00. Help me out. I dont have anywhere to put a canister.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Not sure what the 10G kit is, but in my 10G I have a Fluval 1:
http://www.littlefishtank.com/Reference/reviews/display.asp?idkey=31

Not very expensive and keeps the water crystal clear. Mine is in my grow out tank and BOY does it work