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Good morning,

Is there a way for me to make my plecos less shy? I have an L128 and a bushy nose pleco (both about 2'' long) in a 50 gal tank with a huge log. Once in a while l'll see the bushy nose at the bottom of the tank but, he runs and hides as soon as he sees movement from us. The L128, I see his tail sticking out of the holes of the drift wood but, most of the time he spends his days in the log and we can't see him.

When I look at some youtube videos they are all over the fresh veggies and hanging out at random spot s of the tank... but, not mine.
Will they be less shy as they grow bigger? is it something i do?

Thanks
s.

Hi seeked,

Plecos are known for hiding. And some moreso than others. Sometimes you can encourage activities in open by providing more hiding places, rather than less. The fish seem to feel more secure when they see a get-away nearby. You can also try adding dither fish like a school of tetras or corys to give distraction to the plecos.

Cheers, Eric

While Bekateen is just right, My Pterogoblichthys went through a shy stage, which ended after approximately a year. After that, the 15 to 20 cm fish were not shy at all.

Obviously, later they were much, much larger, Pt gibbiceps with fins being 50 cm

Bas Pels wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 15:26 While Bekateen is just right, My Pterogoblichthys went through a shy stage, which ended after approximately a year. After that, the 15 to 20 cm fish were not shy at all.

Obviously, later they were much, much larger, Pt gibbiceps with fins being 50 cm

All true. Some plecos get more bold with age. It occurs to me that the OP didn't say how long the fish have been in the tank.

Also, offering delicious foods (like Repashy or some fresh veggies or fresh meat like shrimp or live blackworms) can draw fish out.

Cheers, Eric

ahh great thank you for your answers. So, patience is the answer. The plecos have been in my tank for about 3 months now and they seems to be eating the veggies I provide them. As for Rapashy. It's soooo expensive here in Canada that i have yet to splurge. It's been in my Amazon cart for 1 month.

I'll try shrimps this week and I was looking at adding fishes to the tank so, i'll look into Tetras.

thank you again for your help
s.

I noticed my L271s got more adventurous when I turned the temperature up a couple of degrees.

The bigger BN males seem like they're hiding more when they get older though.

Get a bunch of the same species. The territorial behaviors will make them more active.