Came home to pleco on floor

[fishRmylife]

In my 10 gallon, I have a nice sized pleco, when I got home tonight, he was about 15 feet from the tank. There is an opening about 6"x10" near the back for a cutout for the filter, this is the only way I can think of how he got out, he was hiding in the corner in a pile of damp towels, I quickly put him in the tank. He was pretty dry and hard. He began breathing but didnt move for a while, slowly but surely he began to start using his fins again. I feel like a bad owner now, I gotta get that hole filled up or figure out how he got out I think he's gonna make it. We'll see.....

 

[420Loach]

dont feel bad, he was alive. how big is your pl*co, he might be too big for the 10 gallon.

 

[fishRmylife]

hes about 4 1/2" i think, never measured him, he's getting a little big, he was about an inch when I bought him, might get him his own tank, or sell it back to the LFS real cheap, theyll buy larger of a species if they are healthy.

 

[kivor]

i have a pleco hes about 5.5inch ,my moms friend has a giant tank and today we moved him 2 there

if i lived near u i would want the pleco.

u should put it in 1 of yer other tanks

 

[kivor]

thats pretty amazing.thats never happend to me

 

[mandi0808]

I had that happen with my fav pleco Bubba. He went out the tank from the back where the filter is. Don't ask me how he fit, but he did. Unfortunately, he did not make it...
Jumping out seems to be something plecs do apparently.

 

[lightning]

we had a common pleco we bought several years ago , it was an inch long, it got moved from tank to tank as it got bigger, when it was 13 inches we moved it from a 75 to my parents outdoor 750 gallon koi pond, that thing is still growing i think, it looks like its about 2 ft long now, my parents slice whole cucumber and zuccini in half and put it in there for the koi and he will mount one and devour almost the whole thing in one feeding

 

[fishRmylife]

I would put him with my tetras, but I already had a problem with him supposedly eating my little fish at night, so I put him in with the ryukins, pretty soon I will be setting up my 55 gallon for all my tetras and danios, dissasembling my 10 gallon and moving the pleco and ryukins to the 29 gallon

 

[Angelfish]

I'd turn the pleco in to the LFS, they are nice fish, they just require a really big tank.

 

[catfishmike]

ah poor thing.i would cry if my pleco did something like that.i hope he's ok.add some stress coat and melafix to stimulate his natural defences.that should hepl him regain his strength an lots of veggies too.

 

[fishRmylife]

He looked pretty healthy this morning he was swimming and eating, but tonight, I came home to find him dead in his tank, the ryukins seem to be protecting the body, they lay on each side of it, they almost look like they are mourning, cuz I am

 

[FroggyFox]

Awww Sorry for your loss fishrmylife.

 

[Super_Fishy]

Plecos don't jump. Why would they jump? I believe they come up to the surface to get a gulp of air. I've seen my plecos do that many times. They come up very fast, and always hit my tank cover. I filled my tank up very high, about 3/4 of an inch left. I can tell they are hitting my tank cover because I can hear a thump. My parents fish tank is filled only 3/4 of the way. They have pleco too. I've seen it come up for a gulp of air. Since the tank is not filled all the way, it only comes up to the surface, breaking the surface, then goes back down. But it happens very fast! When a pleco jumps out of your tank, its just bad luck. I believe it happened to come up for a gulp of air were there was an openning. That's why they fall out! So far, my plecs haven't flew out of my tank yet, and I have a pretty big gap for the filters.

 

[catfishmike]

man i'm sorry to hear that your pleco passed on.i have seen plecos go real fast to get that gulp of air.mine has done the thump thump thing before when he was gulping for air.odds are your pleco was trying you go up the filter return and jumped out accedentaly.so many people forget that the suckermouth on a pleco was developed to hold on to rocks in fast moving water not eat algae.many fish feel the need to swim agains a current to stimulate themselves,as was most likely the case with your pleco.

 

[MrKrispy]

Mine used to climb up the plastic parts of my bio-wheel filter. When mine jumped out I think he just climbed up that and freaked out, and WHOOMP on to the floor.

 

[Fishyman]

I never heard of such a thing, My pleco is like 7inches and growing. I have like a huge gap and Ive had it for like 1year and a half, its never done anything like that. I Hope everything will be ok and I hope that doesnt happen to me... Do you have any cats?? maybe thats what did it??

 

[Cutlass]

I'm sorry to hear you lost him

My pleco will occasionally make a quick trip to the surface to get a gulp of air. Yours probably tried to do the same thing but put a little too much effort into it, or maybe he misjudged the space he had above the water line.

 

[1fish2fish]

Plecos do indeed "jump" out of tanks. My mom lost her big pleco like that. I have a large hole in the back of our canopy that I set a flat rock on until we get the new canopy. I can go and pet her on the nose that is how close to the top that she is! I have no doubt that given the chance she would come out! I don't know why because she has a new big home, but I bet she would!

Angie

 

[Dr. Fishkill]

I never heard of such a thing, My pleco is like 7inches and growing. I have like a huge gap and Ive had it for like 1year and a half, its never done anything like that. I Hope everything will be ok and I hope that doesnt happen to me... Do you have any cats?? maybe thats what did it??




you got a lazy pleco LOL

 

[beaver8888]

well a pleco in a 10G was kinda small they et pretty big they dont grow fast but still plus its always good to check for even the smallest holes in hoods