BN pleco "itching" and breeding question

[nonamethefish]

Well, I now think that the forward and backward motion my female BN pleco was doing is itching.

It usually occurs in bouts between long periods of apparently perfect health. She'll perhaps shake her head once or twice, and then start "darting" around, spraying sand, detritus etc. in her path. Same motions on the glass too. This is going to be a planted tank, so I don't think I should vacuum the bottom. However, if you guys truely think its the cause, then i'll have a go. Another possibilty is simply add more sand over the mulm after i add the laterite for this tank. The only fish in this tank are 3 bluefin killies, a single american flagfish, and a few ghost shrimp...so the bioload is quite low right now. I will be adding more fish in the future though.


Anothe question. Do Bn plecos show any distinctive courtship behavior? I recently bought a large male, with a nice rack of bristles to boot. They seem for the most part to be ignoring each other. However, should they happen to come across each other(male discovers same hiding spot), the female will quiver her fins and body and assume a curved posture. Sometimes, the male will swim towards her, and she will swim away with these actions. Hard to tell if he's actually following her or if its all unintentional. I'll have to get pics, cause to me it seems to be a pretty doubtful match. Hard to tell if the difs Im seeing are species or age differences.


Thanks in advance!