PlanetCatfish.com

im considering buying one and i want to know a few things first(and no im not quite sure which type it is exactly)
are they always shy?
are they active during the daytime?
do they have a personality?
do they recognise/become unfearful of their owner?
why do so many people love them?
thank you for your responses.
cheers
Jord

It depends on what pleco if they are shy. My L260 are really shy. Yes they have personality. They will get to know you and won't be scared when you enter the room. People like them because they are so beautiful and catfish usually don't have colors like them. What kind of tank are you setting up. If I were you, I would setup a breeding tank just for them, usually a 20 long or a 3 foot tank. You can put a trio or quad these size tanks for plecos under 7 inches. As far as the pleco goes it is really your choice. My tanks are setup with 2 driftwood pieces and 4 PVC pipes with some rocks. So you can always see at least 2 plecos. I am really looking forward to getting some L134 and L015. These are kind of shy, but have great colors. You can put a quad of these in a 20 long.

Can someone with admin privileges move this to the Loricaridae location...

Ok, so "a pleco", means something like 400 different species of fish in some 30 odd genera, so maybe you could be a little bit more specific about which one you mean. I'm going to talk about "Common pleco", since that's probably what you meant.

are they always shy?
The natural habitat of these fish have many dangers, and they are generally shy and nocturnal.

are they active during the daytime?
Most common pleco's aren't very active during "light" hours. Other plecos vary greatly from "You'll never see it" to "You may well see it most of the day".

I've got some which are almost always visible as I walk to the tank. If they aren't, they'll come out as soon as I feed the fish. They are however not very good algae eaters.

do they have a personality?
Absolutely. Each individual will have it's own behaviour, and will show different behaviour from others.

do they recognise/become unfearful of their owner?
Yes, almost certainly. I had two (one at a time) that learned to recognise me and come out "begging for food", whilst if anyone else walked into the room, the same fish would go into hiding.

why do so many people love them?
Because they are lovely fish.
Actually, I think they are very fascinating fish. But each person has his/her own reasons why they like or dislike anything, so that's my individual opinion. Some people love them because they are good algae eaters meaning the owner doesn't have to keep cleaning the glass of the tank every week.

On a final note: Common pleco is the name in the trade for some three or so different species of pleco's. All of these are good algae eaters, but they also grow QUITE large, at least 10 inches (250 mm) and maybe quite a bit more than that, which means that they are not quite suitable for anything but the bigger of the home aquaria.

There are several other species from the Loricaridae family that are better suited for small/medium size tanks, such as the common bristlenose , which is a good algae eater, but doesn't grow much bigger than 5-6" (120-150mm). They are also quite active during daytime.

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Mats

MatsP, I thought you said L015 were shy like my L260. Or Are L260 not supposed to be shy like mine. Anyway, do you like your L015. I have finally decided that my next breeding attempt will be L134. I love there colors.

My L015 are definitely not shy, and I very much doubt that's what I meant when I wrote whatever it was I wrote that made you think so. Not sure what L260 are like, as I've never kept them (they look very nice tho').

But I'm also convinced there's natural variation depending on a lot of things when it comes to which fish are more active/brave than others...

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Mats

Moved... ... although a bit late

Jordan,
I love to watch them play together or shoal. I like the smaller species like Otocinclus and Corydoras. If you think about it, an aquarium is a glass box. Pretend you were a fish inside a glass box and a big creature(a human face)was staring at you. Imagine how large a human face would seem, or even a human hand reaching into the tank to clean. I would imagine this could be stressful for any new fish, nevermind a species that tends to be shy. All aquarium fish need some time to get used to their new surroundings. Some fish take a little longer than others.

Many Pl*cos are nocturnal or active at night, rather than diurnal(active during the day). But, some nocturnal species are somewhat active during the daytime, too. Also, you can watch a nocturnal creature at night, after the lights have gone out by doing something quite simple. Take a flashlight, a piece of red cellophane and a rubberband. Wrap the red cellophane over the flashlight end. This will give you a small bit of "nightvision" to watch a nocturnal species.

Let us know how you do, Jordan.
Amanda

thaniks for all your repllies, i'll make a big effort to find out which type it is exactly. sorry for not knowing, i hope it wasn't too frustrating MatsP .
thank you all though
cheers,
jordan

jordan wrote:thaniks for all your repllies, i'll make a big effort to find out which type it is exactly. sorry for not knowing, i hope it wasn't too frustrating MatsP .
thank you all though
cheers,
jordan

Not to worry. I like "lecturing" (in the good sense of the word, not telling people off) and we all have to learn. When I got my first pleco, I was convinced that there could only be one fish with this weird look. I've learnt a lot since then, including the fact that there are some 4-600 different species of pleco-type fish.

We all start out life with no knowledge of anything, and whenever we hit some new area where we haven't learnt yet, we have to learn. By asking others, we can learn much quicker than by "finding out ourselves". That's what this web-site is all about.

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Mats

I cannot contribute very much since I am new to fish keeping and have only had my pleco for a month or so... I have an albino bristlenose pleco and he is a doll!! He is out and about all the time, very rarely in his cave. He has a great personality and is hilarious to watch when interacting with the other fish. And a good algea eater to boot