PlanetCatfish.com

Over the past few days I have noticed some strange behavior out of my bristlenose. A few bubbles will rise from somewhere on him after which he will swim straight to the surface of the water and then dart back down. I have seen plecos do this before and have never know exactly what this behavior means. He has been doing this quite often over the past couple days and I am not sure if I should be concerned or not. Thanks for any advice.

nothin wrong with that my pl*co does it all time

He/she is just coming up for a breath. Loricariids can breath oxygen from the atmosphere.
-Shane

Perhaps you need more water agitation to increase the oxygen content.

It may not have anything to do with the oxygen content of the water. A number of air-breathing fish will gulp air even if the water has enough oxygen in it.

Hi!

Yes you r right about that HH but so far I have never witness any Bristlenose doing this when sufficient aeration/current was being given in the tank.
Are the other fish in the tank behaving normally and did you check your water parameters?
Cheers
Yann

I've never noticed this in any of my fish... only time they're at or above the surface of the water is scraping algae off the filter returns, then they can stick their whole heads out rasping in the water flow...

I think its more or less the individual pleco in terms of its rate of respiration. I have two generic plecos and one of them does this regularly.

My 2 common pl*cos do this, but I have never seen my smaller hypostimus gulp air.

Hi!

I agree it is a common behavior for common pl*co such as Glyptoperichthys , Liposarcus, Hypotomus but I really don't think it is such a common behavior for Bristlenose ( Ancistrus )...
Cheers
Yann