Pleco Is Swimming Like A Fish

[ScoutCarcer]

My pleco in my goldfish/koi tank is swimming around like a fish Do you just think its his personality?

 

[pseud]

How big is he?

Does he have hiding places?

How's the water? -- goldfish put out a lot of waste, could he be stressed from it? What's the ammonia and nitrite levels?

How's the temp? -- could he be too cold?

 

[ScoutCarcer]

He is about 1 1/2 long. They have plants,wood,and lots of other hiding places. The water is clear and the ammonia level is at 0 and so is the nitrite. The tank is at about 75 degrees.

 

[pseud]

Weird. Is it doing it constantly or sporadically?

I don't know what could cause it, it could just be it's personality I guess. Maybe someone with more plec experience could help...

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hm, well my plecs can all swim around like normal fish as well as suck the tank glass and objects and also sit at the bottom of the tank or propell themselves forward along the bottom of the tank using their tails- this is all normal plec behavior although if your plec is constantly swimming around and never settling down he may be in some distress or not like/not feel safe with his tank mates. Most of the time your plec should just be sucking on somthing or doing nothing at all, and not swimming around constantly.

 

[ScoutCarcer]

Hes not doing it constantly just for about 30 seconds every 5 minutes.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Does he seem bothered by the other fish at all?

 

[ScoutCarcer]

No they just treat him like hes a goldfish or koi

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Then he is probably fine, just a little active, but if he is new he's probably just settling into the tank
May i ask what size tank he is in though? koi and many goldfish and plecs grow HUGE, so its important that ihe is in the right size tank or you may have to rehome him soon- how many koi and goldfish have you got in the tank and what types?

 

[ScoutCarcer]

Then he is probably fine, just a little active, but if he is new he's probably just settling into the tank
May i ask what size tank he is in though? koi and many goldfish and plecs grow HUGE, so its important that ihe is in the right size tank or you may have to rehome him soon- how many koi and goldfish have you got in the tank and what types?

Hes not new hes been in the tank for almost 2 months now. There in a ten gallon. And Ive said this tons of times they are going into a pond in a few days. The 3 goldfish were just big common goldfish not even an inch when we got them and now there almost 2 inches long. And the koi are just regular koi.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well as you probably also know the goldfish are going to need somwhere bigger too, but i would check out www.planetcatfish.com and see if your plec is either a common plec or sailfin plec as these are the most widely sold plecs and also some of the biggest, if he is either one of these he's going to need a huge tank too.

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

lol mine never moves seriously u wud think he was dead

 

[@ombomb]

My bristlenose plec regularly used to swim around my tank, although he was obviously always on the way somewhere (bogwood to plant, plant to behind the filter etc). Once it got a bit older and bigger it just stopped bothering and wanders calmly these days.

As long as there are no other signs of a problem, personally I'd assume that this was just what it's happy doing.