Found Nemo?

"Rosbotham" wrote in message
...
| him in the tank, and he was off like a flash, no doubt cursing me
in
| fish-ese. Do I re-name him Nemo then?
|
| Lesson - take the filter motor out of the tank in future...
|


Tough SOB's aren't they??

billy

So I've just been going through my usual cleaning routine on my cold water
tank - water change, using the extracted water to rinse the filter media
with. As usual, left the (internal) filter motor churning away while I did
the rinsing.

Came back to the tank, and couldn't persuade the filter to work. After much
head scratching and dis-assembly, finally came to the conclusion that
something was blocking the final output stage.

So I struggled to find anything that would fit, and in the end used a cotton
wool bud to bore out the final output tube. My worst fears were founded,
and after quite a bit of fiddling with the cotton bud, I managed to extract
a fish (Hong Kong plec*, tiny thing) that I figured had perished and somehow
got sucked through the filter...this must have taken at least 10 minutes
with no water flow through the filter.

The next thing, the fish starts to move slowly in my fingers...so I dropped
him in the tank, and he was off like a flash, no doubt cursing me in
fish-ese. Do I re-name him Nemo then?

Lesson - take the filter motor out of the tank in future...

Paul

my 3 plecos all jumped out on night when I forgot to close the cover.... I
found them next morning...eeekkk... all dry and crusty and not really
gasping for air....... but after I put them back in tank they where OK in
5-10 min.

So Yes plecos can survive quite some time without water

--

------Splitskull-----

"Rosbotham" wrote in message
...
| So I've just been going through my usual cleaning routine on my cold water
| tank - water change, using the extracted water to rinse the filter media
| with. As usual, left the (internal) filter motor churning away while I
did
| the rinsing.
|
| Came back to the tank, and couldn't persuade the filter to work. After
much
| head scratching and dis-assembly, finally came to the conclusion that
| something was blocking the final output stage.
|
| So I struggled to find anything that would fit, and in the end used a
cotton
| wool bud to bore out the final output tube. My worst fears were founded,
| and after quite a bit of fiddling with the cotton bud, I managed to
extract
| a fish (Hong Kong plec*, tiny thing) that I figured had perished and
somehow
| got sucked through the filter...this must have taken at least 10 minutes
| with no water flow through the filter.
|
| The next thing, the fish starts to move slowly in my fingers...so I
dropped
| him in the tank, and he was off like a flash, no doubt cursing me in
| fish-ese. Do I re-name him Nemo then?
|
| Lesson - take the filter motor out of the tank in future...
|
| Paul
|
|

"Splitskull" wrote in message
...
my 3 plecos all jumped out on night when I forgot to close the cover.... I
found them next morning...eeekkk... all dry and crusty and not really
gasping for air....... but after I put them back in tank they where OK in
5-10 min.

So Yes plecos can survive quite some time without water

--

------Splitskull-----
Found a 7-incher dry and crusty one morning .. moved when I picked it up.
Survived to be given away at 12-inches. Plecos are tough suckers ;-)

bob

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 19:38:30 -0700, "Robert Flory"
wrote:


"Splitskull" wrote in message
...
my 3 plecos all jumped out on night when I forgot to close the cover.... I
found them next morning...eeekkk... all dry and crusty and not really
gasping for air....... but after I put them back in tank they where OK in
5-10 min.

So Yes plecos can survive quite some time without water

--

------Splitskull-----
Found a 7-incher dry and crusty one morning .. moved when I picked it up.
Survived to be given away at 12-inches. Plecos are tough suckers ;-)

bob


I have 3 in my 75 gallon tank that are healthy and look great, now
about 4 inches. I have had them over one year. I have lost 3 in
smaller tanks (10 and 29). They just didn't grow and didn't move
around to feed. The 29 has one survivor and he does move around more
than the ones that died. All of the tanks had live plants. In the 75
gallon tank all 3 move to the feeding area and are actively searching.
The lone ranger in the 29 gallon tank shows no interest nor did those
that died.

I really like the Plecos, interesting to look at, but I will leave the
algae eating to the Siamese Algae Eaters. I have never lost one and
currently have 20 in my 5 tanks. I bought them last summer and they
seem content in any size tank. They all come to the feeding area and
hang vertically until they spot a flake food they find appetizing.

I have 9 SAEs in my 75 gallon tank. When I have my arm in the tank,
they gather round and nibble. Those in the other tanks never seem so
forward.

Dick wrote in message . ..

Not to belittle the survival skills of plecos, but the Hong Kong pleco
at the start of this thread isn't a pleco at all, and rarely if ever
from Hong Kong (they're also known as Borneo plecos, which they're
neither either). They're not even catfish, but a type of loach adapted
to living in fast-flowing waters.

"Mean_Chlorine" wrote in message
om...
Dick wrote in message
. ..

Not to belittle the survival skills of plecos, but the Hong Kong pleco
at the start of this thread isn't a pleco at all, and rarely if ever
from Hong Kong (they're also known as Borneo plecos, which they're
neither either). They're not even catfish, but a type of loach adapted
to living in fast-flowing waters.

To further mess things up, there are at least 3 very similar fish which
go under the name Borneo pleco, Hong Kong pleco and more generically,
Butterfly pleco. This might be the usual fun & games with
identification, except one of the 3 is a true algae eater, and one of the
3 is a true omnivore and not an algae eater, and the 3rd I have no clue.

Don't count on the LFS getting the name right, because the best they
usually do, is to copy the name given by the supplier (who does their
share of guessing and making up new names to promote sales). I recently
got in an order of _true_ SAEs. I always order them by their sci.name,
and it took 8 shipments over 15 months to get the right fish (must have
been a mistake ;~). Geophagus & Puffers are worse. Don't even talk to
me about common names for Discus. I placed an order on a Columbian
supplier last night. About 15% of the fish on their list did not appear
in books or web searches, using common, scientific, and variations of
scientific names (converting Portuguese/Spanish to English Latin). Of
course, I ordered lots of those (but I'm a bit crazy ;~). Anyways, buyer
beware.

NetMax