Bristlenose Pleco likes to hide.?

Question

I got a Bristlenose Pleco a few days ago to take care of some algae and he did a fine job, and I've also fed him an algae wafer here and there. However yesterday I noticed that he was missing. He usually hnags out somewhere below the driftwood but he wasn't anywhere around there. Then I picked up my fake rock aquarium decoration and he was under it. I guess he was sleeping/hiding. I wake up this morning and he's hiding again, I'm presuming underneath the same fake rock structure. Is he getting stuck underneath there maybe? I'm worried.

Answer 1

That is what all plecos do, hide during the day.  They do their best work after the lights go out.  Do not worry, he will be fine under the decoration.  They get in and out of some small places.  I have about a hundred of them right now (50 are babies) and they are all pretty lazy during the day.

You will need to feed your BN pleco just like you would feed the other fish.  I give mine soft algae pellets daily, they love them.  Algae flake food is good too.  For treats you can give them zucchini that has been sliced thin and parboiled for about 3 minutes.  I do a whole zucchine and then freeze them on a cookie sheet so they don't stick together put the extra slices into a ziplock bag and keep them in your freezer.  When you drop the frozen slices into the water, they float until they thaw and then sink down for the plecs.

They sell "pleco caves" at the fish stores, or you can get a small flower pot and break a chip out of the edge so your plec can get inside when you set it on the bottom of the tank open end down.  Make sure no air is trapped inside, it can become anaerobic and cause problems.

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