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Posted by Justin Boucher on March 20, 2005, 2:47 pm
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You got some good advice here.
I would just like to add that Pl*cos are nocturnal and will avoid the light
as much as they can.
I recently added a pl*co to my tank and after the first few hours, he seemed
to disappear. I was concerned that I may have had a casualty when nearly a
week went by and I never saw him. But, the back glass (which I don't clean
so it can be a good source of algae for snails and fish) was getting cleaner
and cleaner with each passing day.
So, I staged a flashlight near the tank and late in the dark of night, I
would search the tank with the flashlight. Sure enough, there he was having
a grand ole time with all the food along the back glass looking as healthy
and beautiful as can be. (Even though he constantly swam away from the
flishlight beam).
He's just got one hell of a good hiding place during the day and I don't
need to worry anymore.
Justin
"Gill Passman" <gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk> wrote in message
>
> > As odd as it sounds the best way to see more of your pl*co is to
> > provide him with a better hiding place. You say "he scurries further
> > into his hollow" and my guess would be the reason for this is that he
> > feels inadequately hidden. How large is the piece of driftwood? Does it
> > provide enough cover for him to feel enclosed, and is he completely in
> > shadow when he hides in it? If not he probably feels like he's out in
> > the open. Give him a cave or something to really hide in and he won't
> > act so nervous.
> >
> > Still don't expect to see him swimming happily through the center of
> > your tank in the middle of the day - pl*cos don't do that much. But if
> > you give him a good hiding place he'll be less likely to try to cover
> > himself up whenever someone walks by the tank. A lot of times a pl*co
> > will stay half way in his cave and they rarely go running for cover if
> > they feel safe.
> >
> > Another thing that will help is if you start feeding him algae wafers.
> > Hikari is a good brand, I've never had much luck with Wardley - my
> > pl*co will eat them if it's all that's available but he was never very
> > happy about them and would continue to look for something better until
> > he was convinced that it was the only wafer I had dropped in the tank.
> > If you feed him at the same time every day (just before lights out is
> > best) then after a week or so you'll see him come out and start looking
> > for his wafer around feeding time.
> >
> > They hide a lot and aren't very active but it doesn't take long to find
> > yourself thinking of that inactive shadow as your favorite fish.
> >
> > -Daniel
> >
> Hi Daniel,
>
> Thanks for your reply. You've reassured me a lot :-)
>
> He sits pretty much half hidden most of the time but when he does go
totally
> into his hollow you can't see him at all. It's a pretty big bit of
driftwood
> (I would guess around 1 foot in length). There is a similar size piece at
th
> e other end of the tank that he tried first before selecting his current
> home after a day or two of being in the tank.
>
> I'll certainly give the late feeding a try. He doesn't look as if he is
> going short but this is something that has been worrying me. Hopefully the
> Clown Loaches will be less active by then and won't take it before he gets
a
> chance which has been happening - they normally take themselves "off to
bed"
> around an hour before lights out.
>
> Other than that, I guess I'll have to resign myself to only seeing the
tail
> end of this very lovely fish most of the time....until he feels
comfortable
> enough to put in more appearances.
>
> Thanks again
>
> Gill
>
>
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> provide him with a better hiding place. You say "he scurries further
> into his hollow" and my guess would be the reason for this is that he
> feels inadequately hidden. How large is the piece of driftwood? Does it
> provide enough cover for him to feel enclosed, and is he completely in
> shadow when he hides in it? If not he probably feels like he's out in
> the open. Give him a cave or something to really hide in and he won't
> act so nervous.
>
> Still don't expect to see him swimming happily through the center of
> your tank in the middle of the day - pl*cos don't do that much. But if
> you give him a good hiding place he'll be less likely to try to cover
> himself up whenever someone walks by the tank. A lot of times a pl*co
> will stay half way in his cave and they rarely go running for cover if
> they feel safe.
>
> Another thing that will help is if you start feeding him algae wafers.
> Hikari is a good brand, I've never had much luck with Wardley - my
> pl*co will eat them if it's all that's available but he was never very
> happy about them and would continue to look for something better until
> he was convinced that it was the only wafer I had dropped in the tank.
> If you feed him at the same time every day (just before lights out is
> best) then after a week or so you'll see him come out and start looking
> for his wafer around feeding time.
>
> They hide a lot and aren't very active but it doesn't take long to find
> yourself thinking of that inactive shadow as your favorite fish.
>
> -Daniel
>