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Got a couple of quick questions about plecos,

first of all do plecos need to surfuce for air because mine likes to swim up to the top of the tank realy quick, and seems to enjoy scaring the other fish at the same time.


Second how much to plecos normally poop? My pleco is a pooping machine. It is a common pleco about 6in. long in a 120 gal tank only algae eater besides my two snails.

I took him from my girlfriends 29gal about 2 month ago. since then he has gained about 1-2inches in length and at least doubled his mass he was a skinny pleco. How much should he be pooping what is normal for a pleco of his size. Plus how often should i be giving him algae wafers?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the essay.

Jake

Add an airstone to the tank. The reason why your plec is gulping for air is because there isn't enough DO to keep him happy. Long strands of excretement are common amongst plecos. No worries there.

I feed the algae wafers to my plecos twice a day and supplement that with fresh (lightly boiled to make softer) vegies like zucchini, pumpkin and other greens. My plecs are straight onto them as soon as I put them in
As Lifenoodles said, the plecos are pooping machines
I actually worry if I don't see any pleco poop around my tank
The reasons for jumping up and grabbing air is something that I've heard argued, I'm not 100% sure myself either? , some say it's a NEED for air and I've heard that it's something else like looking for food or some sort of natural reaction to something?

Mine have done it in the past but not so much anymore but nothing has changed in my tank so it's really hard to find an exact answer.

The pleco dashing to the surface is from lack of oxygen in the water. I have a 12" common pleco in my oscar tank. He has never come to the surface for air ... but that tank is also filtered about 12x per hour. Also has a large surface area.

Poop is normal youll see it all over ... if you dont really like to see it go with a mixed color gravel, itll help to hide it.

You should supplement with raw/blanched vegetables. Mine like zucchini, pumpkin, spinach, romaine lettuce (no point in feeding iceberg lettuce, no nutrition in it), golden italian squash, carrots, peas, and pretty much anything you put in there. Try not to feed cucumbers as the seeds can be poisonous to some fish, plus they float.

Bdadawg

I feed mine the 1 wafer a day at least. Once a week I'll sub the wafer for a precooked shrimp. He loves it.

I have a bristlenose and there always long strands hanging off mine!

in relation to foood, mine pretty much eats flakes from tank floor or even bloodworms, i dont give him any other greens other than half a dozen peas ill throw in the tank every month or so and he doing extremely well any way, very active and always out and about doing something. But my tank does have the usual build up of algae about. he about 6 months old now.

The pleco dashing to the surface is from lack of oxygen in the water.

They also do this to maintain a ballast which allows the to stay on the side of the tank instead of falling to the bottom, it is quite normal..

But the quote could also be correct, Plecos have a redundant organ that allows them to process "air" instead of pulling oxygen from the water, if your pleco is doing this and none of the other fish seem to have a problem, then I wouldn't give it too much concern..
also, they are poopin machines, it's what they do best (Make sure your filtration is up for it, and don't buy white gravel

Suction upon a surface is not achieved through gaseous pressurization; rather, they hang onto objects using the ridged linings of the mouth. Therefore, it is possible to lift the sides of the disk in order to pump water through it's gills without disturbing the improperly named “suction disk”. Gulping of atmospheric O2 is rare unless DO is limited.

Sorry, I thought Ballast was accurate, it maintains a boyency, if you have a plec and look at him on the bottom of the tank, if it's like mine, his tail is the only part on the ground at times, (excess boyency)

a Quote from an info page (there are others, but I'm getting an error from thier site)

Pleco air gulping:
Many species of plecostomus, including the common varieties can gulp air to gain better control of their buoyancy. It is not clear but in oxygen-poor environments, they may use some of the oxygen. Often, at dusk, a pleco will rush very quickly to the top of the aquarium and gulp air and then make a splash on its way back into the water. Some plecos are known to be more forceful while doing this, creating quite a splash. If there is no lid, they may jump out. If there is a lid, the pleco may bash itself on it. Usually, the event is not so violent but some individuals "go crazy" and bash themselves to death (often there is a water quality problem in those cases). On their way back down into the aquarium, the pleco will open its fins and sort of glide down and often emit some bubbles from its mouth. With the extra air in their bodies, the pleco can now go about its nightly sucking ritual in almost any position. This is all normal behavior and no cause for concern. While plecos sometimes spend some time on their backs (upside down), if they are not attached/sucking on something at the time and it continues for a number of days, this may indicate a health problem.

taken from
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pleco.htm

I've also watched mine doing this.

Not exactly true, IME. While there is little concern for the pleco (it's already been established that they can utilize atmos. O) in regards to survivability in low O2 conditions, this behavior, the bubbles and all, is almost always an indicator of low DO. Their pelvic and pectoral fins are actually used to clamp onto surfaces facing downwards, and often, especially in large plecs (psuedacanths, pteros---most acistrines lack them), the belly is lined with fairly deep, tiny grooves for keeping them is such a position. As the swim bladders in most loricariids are poor at best--usually functioning only as a secondary organ, it isn't much good for bouancy, even when air is gulped down (seeing as how severely reduced they are). In most of my pleco tanks, I'm always running O.F. with at least one airstone, and I've never had this problem. Keep in mind that I've kept, to date, at least 21 different species of loricariids (couldn't think of more off the top of my head), and currently keep 9(severly reduced my stock recently to make room for my zebras ), not to mention the countless other species I work with daily. I've only ever witnessed this phenomenon in my pond (admittedly not as much surface agitation as I wanted), and in the underfiltered confines of my LFS.

first of all do plecos need to surfuce for air because mine likes to swim up to the top of the tank realy quick, and seems to enjoy scaring the other fish at the same time.

Perhaps I should ask, how often does he/she do this? once a day is not a great concern IME/O, more then once a day would be a concern.

I know I'm new to this forum, but allow me to explain my view on it.

The air around us contains the same amount of oxygen (outside at the same elevation) yet we yawn occasionally, yawning is caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, (typically people think it has to do with tiredness, but it isn't), is it because the air around us has less oxygen? no, it's because we have failed to provide proper regulation of the air we intake causing the opposite of hyper-ventilation (a yawn).. a fish taking air from the surface once a day could be considered "Regulation", more could be a problem. I don't think people would like being thrown in an oxygen tent every time they yawned.

Just because you're new to this forum Ozz, does not mean that you you're new to the hobby, you're input is welcomed

This is a good example of the debate on gulping plecs that I was talking about

All I can add is that in my 6x2x2ft tank I have a 4ft long bubble wand and a AC500 hob filter with 2 1500lt cannisters and a 2000lt internal filter so it has a whole lot of water movement and air and none of the other fish in my tank (including my 70 odd cories) are looking for extra air and yet one of my 2 plecos will occasionally duck up to the surface



Last edited by RustyBlade at 01-Jan-2005 00:07

Perhaps, RB, however, the author made a note of how this gulping was commonplace, rather than occasional.

Yawning can be triggered by many things. Besides the given reason, in certain animals, ourselves included (primates, etc), it is a form of aggression, hence why yawning is usually considered "contagious". This is also why yawning can be induced by keeping one's mouth open for extended periods of time; the traditional stance between male aggressors is to show one's mouth to the competitor. While do not find this kind of advanced thought typically common amongst loricariids (admittedly some of the dumber fishes), I still find the most probable cause of the event to be lack of oxygen--as I was recently informed, the fish in question has since stopped making regular trips to the surface after an airstone was added.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 01-Jan-2005 03:31

the fish in question has since stopped making regular trips to the surface after an airstone was added.

That sounds convincing noodles .
Maybe there are several reasons why they do this including needing more air?

I took the advice on the airstone and he did stop surfacing to the top. Or atleast i haven't seen him do it since. And it is kind of hard to miss it. Anyways the pleco seems to be fine thanks for all the advice.

Jake