Plecos are very hard to catch...

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Fishmanic

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My large BN pleco in my 29 gallon tank died suddenly. Don't know the cause. All tank parameter were fine..no other fish affected. Well, soon after he died I got an algae outbreak on the leaves and tank walls. I did a large water change and added some floating leaves.

Well I figured maybe I should move my other BN pleco from the 35 gallon to the 29 gallon as there is plenty of algae he can eat there. What a tough time I had catching the pleco. I dropped in an alge wafer and put the net close by figuring he would soon pounce on it. No dice. I saw him in a corner and tried to catch him. He quickly moved. I tried again and again to no avail. In order to catch him I had to remove all the plants, my cave, my asian fisherman and the sponge filter. He would still find something to hide behind.... the heater, the filter, clinging to tank walls.It still wasn't easy but after several attempt, I finally succeeded.

Plecos are among the hardest fish to catch as they love to hide, but persistence paid off.
 
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I had to do the same thing in order to catch mine once. Took everything out. I’m sorry to hear of your loss. How old was your pleco? I have one about 3 years old.
 
he was maybe 4 or 5 years old.
 
I’m so sorry. Did you feed him pleco wafers and veggies? I thought they lived about 10 or twelve years.
 
Plecos are easy to catch. They spend the day hiding in their cave and you simply put a big fish net under the cave and lift it out.

If you need to catch fish, use two nets. Have 1 big net (8-12 inch) and set it against a wall. Then use a smaller net (4-6 inch) to slowly guide the fish towards the big net. Then lift the big net up with the fish.
 
Colin, what up man ? I thought everybody knew that trick. The aquarium and fish keeping hobby seems to be experiencing the same lack of basic expertise as every other area of society in general. Thank you Colin for being our safe storehouse of basic knowledge. I'm not trying to be a smart aleck with this comment or to be rude to Fishmanic. He's a good guy. But it just seems to me that very basic tricks and techniques of this hobby are not as well known as they should be. The next time anybody reading this goes to the pet shop for fish, watch what they do. They will invariably do as Colin described unless they are some kind of doofus. OK, I'm sorry you had to read the rantings of a crazy old man in Montana to start your day. I'm on my third cup of coffee now so I should come out of it pretty soon. :-(
 
Fishmanic, you are very experienced and I appreciate your hard work and expertise!
 
You can't easily catch a Pleco using two nets. He would not swim much in the open but would scoot around the edges of the tank hiding behind the heater and filter. And this is a 24 inch tall hex tank...not easy to maneuver one net , let alone two nets. I was finally able to trap him with the one net against a tank wall. I have used two nets to catch other fish but this pleco is not like a tetra or other fish that swim in the open.

I did take a picture of him.:-(
 
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You can't easily catch a Pleco using two nets. He would not swim much in the open but would scoot around the edges of the tank hiding behind the heater and filter. And this is a 24 inch tall hex tank...not easy to maneuver one net , let alone two nets. I was finally able to trap him with the one net against a tank wall. I have used two nets to catch other fish but this pleco is not like a tetra or other fish that swim in the open.

I did take a picture of him.:-(
And with that experience noted we see that there are no one size fits all solutions to any particular problem. Something I failed to immediately grasp.
Now as to the Plecostomus. What is people's fascination with these creatures ? I know everybody likes something different. It would be a mind numbingly dull world if we all liked the same thing but Plecostomusses are dirty and messy. They get enormous and they dookie like a German Shepherd. What is the fascination? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
They are interesting little monsters who scour the substrate for food leftovers. You should also feed algae wafers. And they help keep the algae levels down on the walls and plants of the tank. They come in many types..some can be very colorful with interesting patterns. And they add variety to an aquarium.

In a few days, we will feature catfish only in our Fish of the Month contest. You can enter any catfish, from a small dwarf cory to a large pleco...all are welcome.
 
Yes!! They are very hard to catch!! When I got mine at my LFS, it took the guy like 5 minutes to get him in the bag, lol. :lol:
 
My clown pleco did everything it could to not be caught when we moved it over to it's upgrade tank, buried itself in the substrate, latched onto the glass, and was generally a sneaky little p.i.t.a.
 
My clown pleco did everything it could to not be caught when we moved it over to it's upgrade tank, buried itself in the substrate, latched onto the glass, and was generally a sneaky little p.i.t.a.
Couldn't say it better myself. Be sure to enter that Clown Pleco in our upcoming FOTM contest featuring catfish only. Look for the banner at the top of the forums announcing the entry period.
 
Glad others spoke up. I wasn’t going to argue but they are certainly difficult to catch! I think most of us have the experience to know how to catch a fish. Plecos are just tricky little guys.
 

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