WHAT GOOD ARE PLECO's

[dave Cox]

I bought a clown pleco a month ago. He's in the tank burried into a piece of drift wood. I know he is alive because I can just barely see the tip of his tail fin wagging. He never comes out?

[phidelt85]

Put a night light on your tank, and I'll bet you'll see him moving around when it's dark. My smaller BNs are usually out during the day but the bigger ones come out at night.

[dave Cox]

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[Ed13]

Put a night light on your tank, and I'll bet you'll see him moving around when it's dark. My smaller BNs are usually out during the day but the bigger ones come out at night.

The freaks come out at night,lol:D:D:D
Red lights usually not visible by most fish and inverts so you can enjoy then during night time exhibiting normal behavior!

[pinkertd]

Clown plecos are notoriously shy. And they are not algae eating plecos so you won't see them sucking all about at night either like you would with the bristlenose. They are wood eaters and love eating driftwood and seem to be content to just stay on the wood.

[tdr1919]

Dave,
I have a clown Pleco in my 72, he will come out in the day, does a great job keeping the ornaments & fake plants clean, the only algae he doesnt eat is string algae or brown algae. The other real important thing is he doesnt latch on to the discus. My tank always looks great!

Tom

[dave Cox]

Mine was finally out this morning for a few minutes before burrying himself back into the drift wood. My tank is 90 gallon so it may be hard to really see his progress at the algae.
Dave

[Apistomaster]

Panaque maccus, Clown Plecos do eat algae as a sideline but are dependent on eating wood, preferentially feed on meatier foods and hide more than almost any other species. Compared to Ancistrus sp 3, common bushy nose, they get a D+.
Want a Panaque that doesn't hide, still needs wood but is a decent algae eater(grade:B) check out Panaque sp L204. A much more interesting fish. I never have had them bother Discus and they are a warm water species 84*F to 86*F.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=1139

[FatFutures]

I just love my albino BN! They stay small and are cleaning machines! I'm looking for two to put in my 55 community tank. I've got a common pleco in there and ARGH! What a mess! I have a bunch of stacked, black flagstone in the tank... which makes 12' long, black pleco poo! Not pretty against the white sand! The common pleco makes more mess than he cleans.

[GrillMaster]

Al(brewmaster15) gave me 3 BN's and they burried themselves in the giant piece of driftwood he gave me for my 125G tank as well. They have shown face a couple of times breifly but I rarely see them except for an occasional tail here an there. I have to say that it is one spotless piece of driftwood though!! :D :D

tc
Mark

[FatFutures]

Those of you that say you have BN, are they common or albino? It seems (not claiming expert knowledge here) that the albino's are more active during the day, clean better and they stay quite a bit smaller than the common.

Or, am I imagining all that? LOL

[judy]

You are correct on all counts. They max out at less than three inches and do remain active during daytime hours. They also scour more surfaces, though they do need their little hits of wood every so often...

[GrillMaster]

I actually caught mine out this morning! :)

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj243/basstalker/S5001116.jpg

tc
Mark