Please advise, I need help catching all the Plecos.

[Utar]

I have a 55-gallon community aquarium with a breeding pair of Plecos that I was not counting on. But now that I have this pair I want to catch them and all the babies. Not sure how many there are. I have a 29-gallon setup where I have already caught about six, and this is where they will all go.

The problem is the community tank is heavily planted making it really hard to catch them. I tried for a couple of hours a few days ago and only caught the six or so mentioned above. I feel that I may need to completely tear down this tank removing all the plants and everything in there in order to catch all these Plecos.

Does anyone have any idea that will help me catch them without tearing up my community tank? Thanks, everyone.

 

[didz04]

How about a small tank in big tank with half cut cucumber?

 

[Utar]

How about a small tank in big tank with half cut cucumber?

That might work because I have a five-gallon tank. That is if I can fit it in with all the plants. It's worth a try. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Naughts]

I usually drain most of the water and remove any decor that I can to make it easier.

 

[Utar]

I usually drain most of the water and remove any decor that I can to make it easier.

Yes, I did this, removed everything that is not planted down. The plants were in the way, the plecos ran behind the plants.

 

[itiwhetu]

Feed them algae discs as the lights go off, and net them off one by one

 

[Utar]

Feed them algae discs as the lights go off, and net them off one by one

I have already tried that with blanched cucumber. I have to have lights on to see what I am doing, and the minute the lights come on they scatter. The little guys are very fast. Thanks for the idea

 

[itiwhetu]

I have already tried that with blanched cucumber. I have to have lights on to see what I am doing, and the minute the lights come on they scatter. The little guys are very fast. Thanks for the idea

Try just the dimmest room light, but nothing on the tank

 

[Colin_T]

2 litre plastic bottle with a thin layer of gavel in it. Fill the bottle with tank water and lay the bottle on its side in the aquarium, and put some food in it. Do this at night. The catfish will go inside the bottle and you can check it regularly and lift it out when it has fish in.

 

[Utar]

2 litre plastic bottle with a thin layer of gavel in it. Fill the bottle with tank water and lay the bottle on its side in the aquarium, and put some food in it. Do this at night. The catfish will go inside the bottle and you can check it regularly and lift it out when it has fish in.

I did something similar to this, a trap I created out of a bottle. I cut the top off the bottle, dropped a piece of blanched cucumber inside. Turned the top piece of the bottle toward the inside and taped it back on. Turning the top of the bottle around and pointing it to the inside created a funnel going in. I had hoped the little ones would swim in, and could not get back out. Left it overnight but not one swim inside. Maybe I should have left it for a couple of days, instead of taking it out the next day.

 

[Utar]

Try just the dimmest room light, but nothing on the tank

I will give it a try, Thanks.

 

[Utar]

Yesterday I did a water change and caught a lot more of the pleco babies, plus the parents. I had to trim back the large plants away from the back glass to do so, but I got most of them. There are still a few left, but I am leaving them for now.

I have the parents and all the babies in a 29-gallon tank that I had set up over a month ago, intending on using it for a shrimp and tetra tank.
But that has changed, now it is a Pleco tank. I have this tank heavily filtered with a HOB, small canister filter, and double sponge filter ran by a large air pump. I am going to try and sell them to local fish and pet stores. I have asked only one so far and they were not interested. So I will ask a couple more.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

My advice: struggle. Struggle and struggle until you finally catch them all.

What kind of plecos? I need photos!!

 

[Utar]

My advice: struggle. Struggle and struggle until you finally catch them all.

What kind of plecos? I need photos!!

Bristle Nose Plecos, here are a couple of pics, the best I can do for now. I will try and get better pics, but these guys are not picture-taking friendly. In the one pic I count seven babies, with one setting on the wood log. It is there but you have to look hard.



Here is a pic of the parent hiding behind the double sponge filter. Again hard to see.