Is my Panaque Maccus happy?

[Esther]

Hi guys,

I've been asking myself this question since I've got him. First he was in the big (also heated) tank with the fancy goldfish until I got an Ancistrus from somebody. The Ancistrus didn't leave him alone en chased him al around the tank. I also started to worry if the Panaque was getting enough food because he did not grow (there was plenty of wood in the tank).

I've put him in a smaller tank alone. After an few months looking at an "empty" tank I've decided to get some friendly tank mates. He's now with 4 hand fan shrimps and 5 fire neons. (In about a month I'm going to get another bigger tank and add 5 or 10 fire neons.) I have lots of wood for him and feed him vegetables or algae tablets. He does eat some of it.

He hardly grew since I've got him in January of this year. He's about 2 inches (?= 4 centimetres). And he's so shy, I never see him out of his little hiding spot other the wood. He looks so afraid all the time. His behaviour hasn't chanced in any of the circumstances (goldfish/alone/shrimps).

So, I think my question is: Is it normal for the Panaque to be so extremely shy? Is he maybe more happy alone or not? Or should I get another Panaque for him or her (I think it's a female)? And do they grow really that slow?

All the other fish (and shrimps) in my tanks are active and seem happy but I don't know if the Panaque is. I'm feeling al little bit sorry for him. I saw an video about the Panaque in the wild and they behave totally different than this litte guy.

What can I do? Or is this normal behaviour? Am I worrying to much?

Thanks.

Greetz Esther

[MatsP]

Yes, they are really very shy fish. They like a quite warm tank, not too soft water and plenty of wood. And they grow so slowly you don't notice. I had three of them until recently when I found one dead for unknown reasons, and although the smallest have grown a little bit, I've had them for nearly 6 years, so they don't grow quickly at all.

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Mats

[MatsP]

I moved this thread to Loricariidae forum, as it's mainly about that.

--
Mats

[Esther]

Thanks Mats. I think (I'd like to think) that he's more happier in this tank. The shrimps en neons leave him alone. The temperature in this tank is 26,5 degrees (Celsius) instead of the other tank ( 23,5 degrees). There's is also much more wood in this tank and I've made the tank a lot darker. So, I can't think of anything else. O, and the water over here is quit hard.
I can, however, put him in a tank alone (again) and/or give him/her another Panaque to be with. But if you say that shy is their nature it doesn't matter anyway. I'm afraid two panaques are going to fight. I'm not sure it's a female and I don't trust the people in the fish store (they've sold me this fellow as a Hypostomus Plecostomus ).

[MatsP]

To start from the back:
I'd guess it's hard to tell if it's male or female at that size. And MINE are shy from my experience. If you have lots of caves and place them the right way, you get to see them in the caves, but it's not a guarantee. I have one male and one female, but they are about 8cm (total length). It's easy to tell if the male is mature - it's got very hairy back.

Like this:


Hard alkaline water shouldn't be a problem. My water reads as 420 ppm, and the water quality report says 290 ppm CaCO3, which is definitely classified as hard. They don't mine soft water either, I kept them in about 75-100 ppm for a bit, but they are in tap-water at the moment.

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Mats

[andywoolloo]

Mine are quite shy also. I can see them in the caves tho, a bit of tail here or a head there so I'm happy

[2wheelsx2]

Like this:

Boy, that's a chubby male. I thought my panaque were chubby, but yours are chubbier.

[catmar]

I keep two males in a wood only tank and in my experience also they are very shy. If you don't have plants try lowering your light levels and you may see more of them. Or you may not.

[Esther]

Last week I've put a lot of floating plants in the tank to reduce the light. That's also better for the glow-light tetra's (fire neons as I called it in English ). The Panaque is a little bit less shy without the (huge) fancy goldfish.

The Bamboo shrimps (I called them hand fan shrimps , sorry I didn't know that the translation side witch I've found translated everything literally) are moving freely across the tank and come running when I put a vegetable or algae wafers in. I see that the Panaque is doubting to come out of his hiding place. When he sees me he's gone .

Most of the time I put the algae wafers in before I go to bed (and the light of the tank is out). I hope he's getting some of it then.