What is the Plec doing?

[smcclure415]

In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he is
cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no appearant
reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
so fast I just don't know what to think.

Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?

[Charles]

On 4 Nov 2005 14:23:53 -0800, "smcclure415" >
wrote:

>In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he is
>cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no appearant
>reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
>so fast I just don't know what to think.
>
>Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?


I've seen them do that for air. How is your water quality. Mine did
it more when the water was bad.

[Elaine T]

smcclure415 wrote:
> In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he is
> cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no appearant
> reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
> so fast I just don't know what to think.
>
> Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?
>
He's going for a breath. Many loricarid catfish gulp air and absorb some
oxygen from it through their intestines. It's normal for him to do
occasionally.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Robert Flory]

"smcclure415" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he is
> cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no appearant
> reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
> so fast I just don't know what to think.
>
> Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?
>
I had one that did that every nite as part of his waking activities. Bounce
off the bottom of the glass cover, then do a fast circuit around the tank
before beginning his daily turning the substrate over and etc. He'd scare
people, a 12" pleco can make quite a splash.

Bob

[NetMax]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
et...
> smcclure415 wrote:
>> In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he
>> is
>> cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no
>> appearant
>> reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
>> so fast I just don't know what to think.
>>
>> Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?
>>
> He's going for a breath. Many loricarid catfish gulp air and absorb
> some oxygen from it through their intestines. It's normal for him to
> do occasionally.
>
> --
> Elaine T

Have you noticed that the frequency of this activity is related to their
acclimation to water parameters (O2, TDS etc?)? With most corys & many
plecos, bring them home from a store, or do a large water change, and
they will be doing air gulps more frequently. Corys in particular are
very agitated and active for several days after a change in water
parameters.

I went to retrieve a supposedly empty tank (empty for months) from
someone's apartment and it had a few inches of water in it, lots of algae
(it was under a window) and a large (and very hungry) common pleco
inside. I had that pleco for many years. He got to about 9" long and
occasionally he would glide around the tank, a few inches from the bottom
with all his fins open, earning him his name "Batman".
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Elaine T]

NetMax wrote:
> "Elaine T" > wrote in message
> et...
>
>>smcclure415 wrote:
>>
>>>In our 75 gal tank, we have one plec, Bigfoot. Occasionally when he
>>>is
>>>cleaning, he will dart up to the surface and back down for no
>>>appearant
>>>reason. It almost looks like he is going for a breath, but he does it
>>>so fast I just don't know what to think.
>>>
>>>Is this normal Plec behavior, or is he just having fun?
>>>
>>
>>He's going for a breath. Many loricarid catfish gulp air and absorb
>>some oxygen from it through their intestines. It's normal for him to
>>do occasionally.
>>
>>--
>>Elaine T
>
>
> Have you noticed that the frequency of this activity is related to their
> acclimation to water parameters (O2, TDS etc?)? With most corys & many
> plecos, bring them home from a store, or do a large water change, and
> they will be doing air gulps more frequently. Corys in particular are
> very agitated and active for several days after a change in water
> parameters.
>
> I went to retrieve a supposedly empty tank (empty for months) from
> someone's apartment and it had a few inches of water in it, lots of algae
> (it was under a window) and a large (and very hungry) common pleco
> inside. I had that pleco for many years. He got to about 9" long and
> occasionally he would glide around the tank, a few inches from the bottom
> with all his fins open, earning him his name "Batman".

I've noticed it with Otocinclus. Mine get very agitated after water
changes, even if the water quality doesn't change much. They have
usually settled down by the next morning.

Batman sounds cool. I've never kept a big plec - I'm too fond of
plants. ;-)

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[smcclure415]

He seems to do it randomly. Since the big tank is under populated, we
have done just a couple of water changes. It seemed like he did it
more before the last water change. It might be his way of saying
'Change the water' :)

Thanks all for the info.