Moveing my pleco...any pointers...no pun intended

[austin fishhead]

Im moveing my para pleco into a 55long in a few weeks. Im not real sure how to handle it. I was curious if my 41/2inch l75 para has any spines to look out for? I see them held alot in pictures. Should i catch him bare handed? He's calm and passive to my presence in the tank, usally. Oh course im not trying to peel him off his lrg piece of drift wood. Thnk you for any help!

 

[Mr Burns]

i've rinsed off a large piece of nylon screening and scooped mine up before. there is no way i'm going to try and catch mine bare handed. all i do it get the other fish out of the tank first, then drag the screen underneath him/her, starting at the back of the tank. after that's in place, it's just a matter of lifting up all the corners and moving quickly. luck.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

There are spines in the pectoral fins and the dorsal fin I think. The best way would be to net the fish, if you can't do that try just pickin him up with an open palm. That is how I move my channel cats. On larger plecos I know you can grab them with your thumb above the nose with your index finger going underneath the jaw, which is what I assume you were talking about when you said you saw pics of people holding plecos.

 

[Mr Burns]

if you're comfortable with grabbing the pleco, go for it...i was mostly concerned about injuring mine. it's a bggin' and a fighter, so i felt the nylon screening method was the safest choice for both of us. you wouldn't want yours to slip or thrash out of your hands would you?

btw...what are the dimensions on your 55 long?

 

[Allivymar]

You could also use a container instead of a net; this way the spines won't get caught in anything (which happened with my plec when I moved him). A few holes in the bottom of a cheap tupperware type container will do the trick., and you should be able to move it easily under water to grab him.

 

[Mr Burns]

the container is a good alternative if you're worried about the spines getting caught on something. i tried a similar method when i had to move my plec and it became quite the problem...with no solution. no matter what i did i just could not get it in the bucket. the nylon screening has a comparatively large mesh, so the spines weren't a problem. keep in my though, i'm dealing with a beefy 13" plec..it should be quite a bit easier with your 4.5" plec.

 

[austin fishhead]

Ah thanks for the advise this was just what i was looking for. I have a small specimen container i might could coax him into. His current tank is a 50 gal corner with 30in backside and 20in tall. The 55 long is 48x13x24. I figure he would have more room to manuver in the longer tank since he's a real clumbsy. Also he and my up sidedown cat dont get along so well. body swipes are common no real harm. The cat has dissapeared for some time. he has a real nice craggy piece of driftwood to hide in. I have some nice pictures of both tanks but ive had no luck up loading them . Thanks for the advise.