Sailfin Pleco Being Antisocial

[nudenurd]

Hi guys,

About a week ago I bought a decent-sized Sailfin Pleco. By 'decent' I'm talking about 20cm long.
This guy is an amazing creature, but he's always hiding up the back corner of the tank. I don't think I've ever seen him move away from there. I'd put something in the corners to discourage him from sitting there but I don't want to piss him off.

What might be the problem?
I keep my water quite warm (around 29 degrees), there's lots of plants in the tank, a big log in the middle, plenty of large flat rocks he can sit on... I feed the other fish bloodworms and a couple of different types of food on top of that. They always eat everything, including what drops to the bottom so I don't think the pleco's eating at all. There's not much/any algae in the tank so he can't be getting a full belly there...

Any suggestions?

Cheers!

 

[SamUK]

try him with some cucumber. mine all love it.


do u kno sailfins can grow to 2ft?

 

[HODDY]

dam i got a sailfin pleco.Looks like hes going back.I thought it was 1ft in length

 

[LisaLQ]

That's what the fish shop will say to get you to buy one They average out anywhere between 12-18", but usually at the higher end if kept properly. 2ft is the max, but it's not that common. But considering common plecs grow to similar average size (12" plus), your best bet for a smaller clean up crew is a bristlenose or similar sized - depends on what other fish you keep.

For future reference, plecs cant live on algae alone - and some will just plain ignore it *lol* so you have to feed them plec wafers/tablets, and fresh veggies to keep them in tip top shape. Most benefit from bogwood (some species needing it as their staple diet - eg the panaques, royal plecs etc), and some are omnivores and carnivores, so you need to do your research before you pick one to make sure you get the type most suitable for you

 

[nudenurd]

When I came home from work last night Mr. Plec was sucking onto the inside of the front of the tank. When I returned from dropping my crap in my room, he was back in his corner.
I've got a funny feeling that the vibrations through the floorboards might piss him off. I'm sure he can feel it!

I'll try some cucumber soon. I've also been told that pumpkin really brings out the orange in them? I'll try both. Normally when I drop a sinking tablet in there the other fish pick at it until it's gone. Antisocial down the back corner doesn't move a muscle!
Maybe the others won't be so interested in a chunk of vegetable.

I've got a nice piece of wood in the tank that was acquired from a mudflat near my folks place. I soaked it for a couple of weeks in fresh water before putting it in the tank. The clown loaches love hiding in it

My tank is fine for my pleco for now. When he gets too big for it I'll be moving him into a larger tank.
Should I put something in the back corners to discourage him from sitting there? For example, my filter's pipes or my magnetic cleaner thingo.

Thanks for your replies

 

[LisaLQ]

Plecs are also nocturnal, so while you think he's not moving, he might be having a right good roam around while you're sleeping. Try popping some wafers and/or courgette in for him at lights out, and see if any's gone in the morning If the courgette goes, you'll know whether it's him or not by the bright green poos he'll do afterwards *lol*

 

[nudenurd]

What's a courgette? Isn't that a type of car?

 

[pahansen]

Courgette is the British term for zucchini.

I'm with LisaLQ -- check him out after lights out time. My Gold Nugget (RIP) would hang onto the inside of a concave piece of bogwood (where it was dark) all day long. Then, about an hour after the light went out, he would go into action, zipping all over the tank. He wasn't too picky about whether it was completely dark, so I could leave the light on in the room and watch him go to town. He was a lot of fun to watch -- very speedy! But if you hadn't seen his nighttime antics, you would've thought he was just a decoration!

You said your tank is planted -- do you have any broad leaf plants (like swords) which have developed holes lately? That would be evidence of Mr. Pleco as well.

You also said that there is wood in your tank and that you'd collected it yourself. If it's not bogwood, you might want to look into buying a hunk of bogwood to see if your pleco would hang onto that instead of the back of the tank. If it is bogwood, can you angle/stand it differently to provide a darker/shadier area? You might be able to find a way to "lure" the Sailfin into finding a shady home on a piece of wood, where he might be more visible than he is in the back of the tank. Also, if your clown loaches have made a home in the wood, you might want to consider adding extra wood just for the pleco. I'm not sure that this is a species trait, but I can tell you that my pleco wanted _nothing_ to do with other fish. He'd run and hide even if the barbs came too close! So it's possible that the Sailfin sees the wood you currently have in your tank as "occupied".

Also, let me echo that many Plecos are omnivores, and I believe that the Sailfin is one of these. It came as a surprise to me that my pleco would eat spirulina wafers, but very little actual algae. (I had to get a Siamese Algae Eater for that work!) He would eat anything that fell to the bottom, though -- fish flakes, sinking pellets for the loach, pieces of frozen or freeze dried shrimp that didn't get consumed on the way down, whatever. And again, he did most of his eating at night. So your Sailfin might be getting more to eat than you realize. On that level, plecos would make a pretty good addition to a clean-up crew, if they just didn't poop so much!

My advice is to try to sneak in after dark and watch for a while, if you can get enough ambient light to do so. You might be in for a surprise. Personally, I wouldn't do anything to actively keep him out of that corner. If that's where he feels safe or comfortable, why frustrate him? Now, if you can lure him out by giving him a better place to be, that's a different story. And if you eventually find that you're just not enjoying him because he just sits there taking up space which could be occupied by more social fish, perhaps your LFS will allow you to return him. Those are my random musings!

Good luck,
Pamela

 

[nudenurd]

Thanks for this!! Funnily enough, last night I did sit and watch a while after I turned off the tank light. Shortly after, he started moving about the back of the tank! So I guess he is active after all!
I put a piece of cucumber in there last night (as close as I could get to zucchini at short notice
There was a neat hole bored in the middle of it this morning, but I think that was the fish - not the pleco.

You also said that there is wood in your tank and that you'd collected it yourself. If it's not bogwood, you might want to look into buying a hunk of bogwood to see if your pleco would hang onto that instead of the back of the tank. If it is bogwood, can you angle/stand it differently to provide a darker/shadier area? You might be able to find a way to "lure" the Sailfin into finding a shady home on a piece of wood, where he might be more visible than he is in the back of the tank. Also, if your clown loaches have made a home in the wood, you might want to consider adding extra wood just for the pleco. I'm not sure that this is a species trait, but I can tell you that my pleco wanted _nothing_ to do with other fish. He'd run and hide even if the barbs came too close! So it's possible that the Sailfin sees the wood you currently have in your tank as "occupied".

Yes, gathered from the mudflats. That's salt water, but I gave it a good wash. I agree with you though - if I can find a better home for the pleco he might be happier. I'll try and find an appropriate piece of driftwood this weekend.

Thanks a lot for your help ladies & Sam
This gives me something to think about!

 

[pahansen]

There was a neat hole bored in the middle of it this morning, but I think that was the fish - not the pleco.

No, that's the pleco at work! Fish will nibble at vegetables, plants, whatever, but a suckermouth catfish wil latch onto it, and then just rasp away at the same spot until it's gone, leaving neat little holes all over the place. So he's definitely interested in your veggies!

Not to belabor the point about the wood, but there is a difference between bogwood and other types of collected wood. Check out this link:http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=54177. It gives you a good idea, visually, of what the differences are. I have always seen bogwood used as the gold standared for plecos, many of whom need to rasp at wood in order to aid in their digestion, although there has been some minor disagreement.

That being said, let me also add that I checked out Planet Catfish for information about the Sailfin. It didn't say anything about Sailfins needing wood as part of their diet, but it did say "An appropriately sized shady retreat is all this fish requires." So you're probably on the right track in looking for another piece of wood that he can hide in/under. Since it doesn't hurt, I thought I'd start another post about whether Sailfins require wood as part of their diet. It can't hurt to ask people who've actually raised Sailfins!

Good luck,
Pamela

 

[discus dreamer]

You might need to just give him a bit more time to get more accustomed to his new environment. Just posted an update on my pleco who spent three weeks hiding and now is really active and visible.
DD

 

[Bravo2zero_sps]

My sailfin is about 9" long, had it several years now and never fed it (don't know if its a him or her!) any veggies (has plec wafers every 2 days) and it has no wood in the tank BUT what it does have is a cave to hide in which it loves. It never used to have its own dedicated hiding place and was always fairly inactive, even at night. When I got my Trigon 190 I decided to put the cave (immitation log) in and since then its changed the behaviour of the fish. Now it will spend most of the day tucked away with just its tail poking out and then in the evening i'm treated to it coming out and swimming about with its fins on full display and putting on a real show. It also no longer gets any stress discolouration which it used to suffer with when it had no hiding place. It seems providing a cave is one of the best pressies you can give them.

 

[LisaLQ]

And a bigger tank A 190 isn't big enough for a sailfin I'm afraid, you'll be needing something at least double that. They can get to 24" in some cases, more likely to be 12-18" but only if kept in the right conditions, so it sounds like yours may be a bit stunted already if he's not fully grown.

 

[Bravo2zero_sps]

And a bigger tank A 190 isn't big enough for a sailfin I'm afraid, you'll be needing something at least double that. They can get to 24" in some cases, more likely to be 12-18" but only if kept in the right conditions, so it sounds like yours may be a bit stunted already if he's not fully grown.

It is doing just fine thanks and has plenty of room to swim about in. I know they can get to 24" but mine is 9" and a Trigon 190 is perfectly fine at the moment. Stunted? What because it hasn't grown to full size in just a few years? They take a long time to reach 12"+ so please stop spouting rubbish like my 9" pleco needs a 400 litre tank this second and it must be stunted because it isn't over 12" Women! Honestly all they think about is size!

 

[LisaLQ]

They've very quick growing and should be full size within a year or two max.

You men, typical, stick your head in the sand...(and I only said that because of your comment so ner!) lol

Honestly, you do need a bigger tank for him. I say 400l minimum because technically they need a 5-6ft tank by at least 18" depending on whether they grow bigger.

Might be worth reading some pleco boards to get more info - Plecofanatics is a good one