# Fish disappeared?



## fishcrazy (Sep 1, 2010)

I recently got an albino bristlenose pleco, and usually at night i see him come out. For the past 2 days now, he doesnt come out. I do not know where he is hiding, i have a piece of driftwood and a clay pot, but i just cant find him. i dont know if he's dead, and im afraid to clean the tank in fear of sucking him up(He is only about an inch and a quarter long). What should I do?


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Does he not come out for food?


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## FishMatt (May 12, 2010)

You might try veggies they really like those. You could try Zucchini and no it doesn't fog your water. Hopefully he'll come for that. And that you just got him some Plecos hide when they are in a new tank a then drift out again. Have you turned the light off and watched for him?


Matt


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## fishcrazy (Sep 1, 2010)

No, he hasnt come out for food but i dont know if my other fish eat his algae tablets and zucchini because they are gone when i wake up. And yes i feed him zucchini every other day.


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## eaglescout316 (Sep 13, 2010)

fishcrazy said:


> No, he hasnt come out for food but i dont know if my other fish eat his algae tablets and zucchini because they are gone when i wake up. And yes i feed him zucchini every other day.


When i first started i got a common pleco (got quite the reaming for that, traded it back to the fish store) that i named "Ninja" due to 'his' uncanny ability to hide in plain sight. It's macabre but plecos are much better hiders alive than dead; i replaced the common pleco with a rubbernose that i didn't see but a glimpse of again until it randomly died. If you ever get truly panicked you can start overturning decorations and looking for him. I know it's stressful on the fish but i know it's also stressful for you to wonder where it went.

I guess other things you could try are recording with a digital camera if you can make out the contents of the tank with the light turned off.

By the way, Ninja's goodbye to me was hiding in the plastic bag i used to get him back to the fish store. I got out of the car, held up the bag, and didn't see the fish. He'd managed to hide in the optical illusion created by the curvature of the bag.

EDIT: All the gravel vacuums/siphons i've seen have a plastic screen over the hole to keep things from being sucked up when you clean the tank. If there's one on yours you should be good for cleaning the tank. If you manage to suck him into the vacuum, pull up and out of the water to break the siphon and he'll fall right back in.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Plecos are expert hiders. they blend perfectly in the shadows. 
Carefully pull things out of the tank... or just lift them and inspect them. As long as he is still in the tank you are bound to find him.


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## eaglescout316 (Sep 13, 2010)

<3~Pleco~<3 said:


> Plecos are expert hiders. they blend perfectly in the shadows.
> Carefully pull things out of the tank... or just lift them and inspect them. As long as he is still in the tank you are bound to find him.


That's a good point...are plecos like the bristlenose known to be jumpers? I've heard of them darting to the surface to swallow some air and then diving back down just as quick, but what about breaching the surface?

OP, you may want to check around your stand just to be sure.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

if he managed to jump out by accident he wouldnt make it too far away from the tank so just check the surrounding area


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

I have never heard of a pleco jumping the tank, but just to be safe... check


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I had a huge pleco vanish out of a tank once. He turned up underneath the stand. They get out through small holes and flop around until they get someplace dark to die. Do the "sniff test" on the tank. When you first open the lid, a tank with a dead fish will usually have a foul smell in the air over the water.


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## fishcrazy (Sep 1, 2010)

He hasnt jumped out, I checked everywhere, and my tank smells just fine What I'm more concerned about is him starving himself


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Fish can go weeks without food. 
Have you checked through all your ornaments?


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## fishcrazy (Sep 1, 2010)

I just saw him today for about a second when I did a water change, he swam out of a fake plant and went in the flower pot and disappeared


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Well thats good news!
Maybe try putting food, in the pot, so he will feel more secure when eating it.


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## llogan (Apr 5, 2010)

yea pleco's do jump, if the water level falls they think the pond or pool they are in is drying up, and occasionaly jump out as if they were looking for the main stream or a bigger pathc of water


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

Had a Shell-dweller dissapear for 5 days straight. He was out in the open almost 24/7 prior to him dissapearing. He just vanished one day. Didn't come out for food or anything. 5 days later I found him just chilling above his shell, which I had checked dozens of times while he was gone. Fish are odd creatures.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Superfly724 said:


> Had a Shell-dweller dissapear for 5 days straight. He was out in the open almost 24/7 prior to him dissapearing. He just vanished one day. Didn't come out for food or anything. 5 days later I found him just chilling above his shell, which I had checked dozens of times while he was gone. Fish are odd creatures.


I wholeheartedly agree. My pleco (roughly the length of my lower arm) can hide in his 90g tank easily and it takes me forever to find him sometimes.


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

I would clean the tank and look for him.


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## LilSums (Aug 2, 2010)

Oh yes do they jump! They're pretty good escape artists. When we kept ponds often we'd find the dogs chewing on an escapee. As good as they are at this they are even better at hiding as eaglescout & ~pleco~ mentioned. You WILL see them less when there alive then you will when they pass away, it's almost creepy how well they blend into ANYWHERE.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

some plecos have limited color changing capability, which helps out with hiding. For example when my pleco sits on the gravel in the tank he turns a light brown, when on driftwood he can change to almost match it, and when on rocks at night he turns almost black.


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## Prima (Sep 29, 2010)

I had a Pleco once get out near the filter somewhere. I ended up finding him on the carpet between the shelf and the back wall. He had been on the carpet so long his body was stiff and he stuck to the carpet when I went to pick him up. I thought he was dead. :-(

That was about 2 years ago. He's still alive today and is just as happy as ever.

Check around the tank. I wouldn't be afraid to suck him up though, they're quick in their ways.


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

Corwin said:


> some plecos have limited color changing capability, which helps out with hiding. For example when my pleco sits on the gravel in the tank he turns a light brown, when on driftwood he can change to almost match it, and when on rocks at night he turns almost black.


Quite true, but that doesn't matter on an albino bushynose. They are pretty easy to find when they are white lol.

Best of luck in finding your little catfish friend


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

lol didnt realize they said albino...


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

Haha that's okay. Yeah, I admit I have spent quite a bit of time looking for plecos in my life before I raised my albino.


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