I DON'T THINK MY PL*CO HAS EYES!

[Netti]

I see everyone's pl*co and they all have eyes, and then I look at mines, and there's something weird about the head of mine...THERE ARE NO EYES! LOL. I used a magnifying class, and found a little hole (like a earring hole after you take your earrings outs), on both sides of the head. I don't know HOW my LFS was taking care of it before I bought it :x ....but it has no eyes.
I don't understand it....but at the same time I'm not going to do anything. He gets around just fine. He knows where everything is, has a favorite spot, and even puts his food in the same place every time he's fed, so he does have a sense of direction. What I was wondering was, was he treated badly (my guess), or is there some specie of catfish/pl*co with no eyes? LOL. Thanx in advance.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Do you have any pictures?

 

[Guest]

Sunken eyes in a pleco is a huge sign of starvation! He could well be on his last legs. You must make sure he gets algae wafers, and must have a piece of driftwood in his tank. Many plecos need driftwood in their diet for the wood fibers.

 

[Allivymar]

Also, what kind of plec is it, and how long ago did you get it? What are its tankmates?

 

[Netti]

Is that what it is? I did read that dents in his head mean he's being under-fed. I just bought him about 2-3 weeks ago and after I found out about the dents (because he looked weird when i bought him), I've been assuring that he eats, he gets 2 wafers a day (morning and night) and he eats it all. I'll get some driftwood as well (thanx). I don't have any pictures but I will soon.

 

[Netti]

It's a Common Pleco, I got it about 2-3 weeks ago, it's 5.5 inches long, and 6 Platies are it's tankmates.

 

[Netti]

Also I use Hikari Tropical (Kyorin Co.) Algae Wafers for Plecos and Algae Eaters. Any other diet suggestions?

 

[Allivymar]

It very well could be; its hard to tell without seeing. Generally the indentations are somewhat behind the eyes, but if its that advanced it may well be affecting the eye area. Then again, there may be some breeds which have very small eyes; not sure about that - maybe someone with more plec experience can touch on that. There is also a chance a tankmate may have actually eaten his eyes (icky I know but it happens from time to time).

My 8" plec loves those Hikari wafers; he also gets the Tropical Sinking ones too as well as shrimp pellets. He seems to be rather unpicky; he also inhales the foods I feed my other guys (flake, pellets, you name it). An occasional vegetable is a good healthy treat; a slice of blanched zucchini or cucumber is a good place to start. Just make sure you don't leave bits of it in the tank for more then 12 hrs or so (don't want it rotting in there).

 

[tkos]

I have a cory catfish without eyes. There are just eye spots on his head. He has survived well and always gets plenty to eat. He is good cause I can approach the tank without him running and hiding like the bronze cory. Sometimes fish just have no eyes, though I would suggest you get some drift wood in there.

 

[madasafish]

My common plecs also have pin-hole eyes. My inclination is to say that your dude just has really small eyes... If he didn't have any eyes, he'd probably REALLY by bumbling around the tank. I bought a bichir with 1 eye a few months back, and he had an incredibly hard time moving about the tank.

Try this for our sake: move around your decorations a little, and see if he adapts well. If not, he has simply memorized the location of decor in your tank. If so, he can see! After all, plecs aren't mormyrids, and don't sense electrically, so sight and smell is what they've got to go with.

Let us know if this works.

Jonathan

 

[Netti]

Ok I moved everything around, and even made a cave (rocks). The rock he used to hide in (his fav. spot) is now in the rear-right corner of the tank...and he now hides in the cave (basically in the same spot as the old rock). He sorta inspected it and everything around it as if he was trying to get a feel for the new setting. He hasn't even done so much as sniff his old rock lol. I think he sees because when he's facing me...when I walk up to the tank, he backs up, and when I leave, my moves up forward again.......then when I slowly and lightly (he responds to vibrations) walk up to the tank again....he backs up again.

I've been working on trying to plump out his head indentations since I realized what they meant...but to no avail so far. I hear they like squash and cucumbers but I don't know how to go about putting a cucumber, etc. in the tank lol. It sounds messy.

 

[tkos]

You need some sort of veggie clip that will way down the veggies. It is the easiest way to do it. Zuchinni has always been a favorite of the plecos. Otherwise you need to boil the veggies to get the air out and then they will sink, but they loose nutrients that way.