sand pit

[black angel]

For the past two days my gold spot plec has been digging a pit in the sand and i dont know why.

heres the plec in question

heres the pit

sorry about the flash, but this is plec in the hole and you can just make out the little puff of sand as he digs deeper.

He/she has plenty of bogwood to hide behind and this is just behind the edge of a piece so maybe plec is trying to get under it
Anyone have any ideas??

 

[Barracuda518]

I see you have gravel in there with the sand...How is that working out? Ive been thinking and researching trying to see if I should have some gravel in with the sand..

Sorry this doesnt answer your question. Someone will chime in who knows more about plecos...

 

[black angel]

I did this a couple of months ago thinking it would be nice to have gravel,sand,gravel. The problem was how to stop the gravel and sand mixing, so i got bendy rulers and hubby put slots in big enough to slide bits of ruler through and then wedged them in. I could then bend them so it wasnt a uniform straight edge.
The problem i have now is that the gravel moves over the ruler and is slowly crawling over the sand and the sand is slowly going the other way, so i have to now and again keep pushing the gravel back back.
Its still effective and looks quite natural but its a pain to have to keep moving the stray gravel back.
It wouldnt work for long if there was no barrier as the gravel would mix with the sand quite quickly.

 

[SirMinion]

Gold spot plec? Nah.
That's an L001, glyptoperichthys joselimaianus (same as L022) gets to a foot long!
The digging behaviour is perfectly normal, some plecs do it just to have somewhere safe to sleep, but the L001 is also a cave spawner so it's possible that he/she's preparing a nest in the (futile) hope of attacting a mate.

 

[black angel]

Found it, thanks sirminion. Looks like it is also called the gold spot, and its breeding behaviour is to make holes in the river bank. Males have an outie apparently so mine must be a female, sweet.

http/www.wetpetz.com/joselim.htm

 

[bunjiweb]

I wouldnt call it a Gold Spot plec, although it seems lots of shops do. The gold spot plec is something rather more pretty and less common.

The plec you have is fairly common, but still a nice plec. Unfortunately it falls into the bounds of "monsterous" by normal aquarium standards, so don't overcrowd the bottom of the tank to let "her" grow to her full potential.

Ben

 

[black angel]

well, whatever she is she has the four foot long tank to herself.

 

[bunjiweb]

thats great then

Ben