I can't find my pleco!!

[blang]

I purchased a baby pleco yesterday and put him in my 90 gallon tank. I noticed a rainbow fish picking on him and a couple of the loaches.

when I got home last night, I couldn't find him. I can't find him this morning. Would these fish have killed him????

 

[Jchillin]

Don't despair just yet. It is very likely that he has found a great hiding place. Plus, with a large tank, it is tough to find them. You can try some tricks to lure him out of hiding. Get a nice piece of zucchini, slice it and blanch it for a few seconds and place it in the tank. If all goes well, he will find it.

 

[blang]

In the past, I have found that the babies very rarely rest and are out and about. I also purchased another baby for my 10 gallon and he was busy cleaning last night and in the morning.

I do hope you are correct.

 

[Jchillin]

I hope so too. FWIW, I currently have 6 albino and regular bristlenose plecos in my 75 gal planted tank. Most are less than 2" and they are always disappearing behind rocks, plants, etc. They are always up and about, rarely resting. Just can't see where they are at all times.

 

[jrp1588]

I know in my 30gal planted tank, as dense as the plants are, I can go about a day or so without seeing my 2 corys. They are good little hiders.

 

[blang]

I went to look for my albino in my 10 gallon and couldn't find him. That made me feel a little better about the one in my 90 gallon. It is partially planted and it has lots of caves. Later today, I'll put in a zuchinni and have my whole family on the lookout.

 

[crazycat]

don't worry--chance are he's found himself a nice little hidely hole and is quite fine. i have plecos in my 125g that i don't see for MONTHS! and they're big! it's always a treat when i catch a glimpse of one--and also a sigh of relief to know they're still alive.

 

[blang]

I do hope you are right. It's feeding time and everyone is out and about. I put a piece of zuchini on the driftwood. So far, no sign of "Godzilla". I am leaving soon and won't be back until later this evening. I've offered an award to the first person in our family to spot him.

 

[rippin17]

I bought a baby candy striped pleco and it disappeared for almost a month before i saw him again. He enjoyed hiding in the rocks. Even my gold nugget which is 3 inches or so disappears into my rocks for a few days at a time. Give it time.

Also i once had an electric catfish that was less then an inch long he disappeared for 7 months and came out of hiding... he was now 8 inches long... its amazinghow fish can find great hiding spots...

 

[blang]

This afternoon, we lifted the driftwood and looked around and couldn't find the pleco. We also lifted the top of the cave and looked inside and couldn't see anything.

I am not very confident that this little guy is still alive. Do I still drop some food in the tank at night for this little guy just in case?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Have you tried putting out a nightlight, and come out and look in the tank at night to see if you see something moving about? Blue lights work well, like a moonlight for an aquarium.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, look over the driftwood well, even in all the cracks and holes if there is any.

 

[blang]

I've looked at night and couldn't find him. Yes, the driftwood is very big and a lot of holes. I called the LFS today and they said the same thing you guys have been telling me and would be very surprised if he wasn't just hiding.

 

[krap101]

one time my skunk loaches were hiding in a crack in my driftwood. couldnt find them, i took out all the plants and finally the driftwood. when the driftwood was going into a bucket one popped out and i finally found the other. HUGE HEADACHE.

 

[Skyrmir]

Pleco's are the masters of stealth, not only will they wedge themselves into tiny crevases to hide, they can and will change color amazingly fast. I know it was truly amazing to see my pleco after he had to take a ride inside a red bucket, he went to this yellow/tiny brown spot color that looked really cool for about 2 minutes while he was back home, then switched back to his normal dark brown.

I've also seen them take on stripes and large spots when they thought it would camaflouge them better. When searching for Pleco's you have to look VERY closely some times. Also the young/small ones will stay stuck to ornaments when you take them out of the water sometimes, so you have to be careful not to squish or suffocate them from lack of water.

 

[rippin17]

yeah pleco's can be lil SOB's sometimes when you are trying to find them. they slip into the stupidest spots and sometimes are near impossible to find... hope you find him and its alive!

 

[blang]

Still no pleco

The glass on the tank is building up algae. I can't imagine that he i still alive.

 

[crazycat]

i'm still optimistic though. i have 2 baby plecos that i see only about every 2 weeks or so--they really CAN get into the tiniest of cracks and crevices in rocks and driftwood. and if the loach was picking on him, he's probably hiding and coming out at night to eat.

as for the algae, not all plecos eat algae. in fact most of the 29 plecos in my tank don't eat algae at all--a lot of them are even carnivorous. what kind of pleco did you get? you might want to do some research and make sure you get one that DOES eat algae. for algae on the glass, snails are great--and as far as catfish go, i happen to like farlowellas (twig catfish)--they are good algae eaters. SAEs of course are amazing, but not so much as glass cleaners. CAEs are good glass cleaners until they get big and ornery--although my 5" cae still sucks up to the glass a lot.

hth

 

[blang]

It is a bristlenose, which I know are the best algae eaters. As soon as I put him in the tank, he started cleaning. That lasted about 30 seconds when he started getting picked on and went into hiding. That was a week ago. He hasn't even touched the zuchini.

 

[indrani987]

Just wanted to say I'm sorry, that's really sad:-( I hope that the little guy is just a really good hider. Hope you find him soon...