Handling Plecos for pictures

[rodger]

I am not a Pleco keeper, but I enjoy looking at them. I have a question about handling them. There is no other type of fish that I regularly see people holding the fish to take a picture. And sometimes holding by their heads straight out? Is there a reason for this? I always felt the idea was to get them in water as quickly as you could with no handling. (Unless you drop it, which I have done) Just curious.

 

[Rotaryp04s]

The easiest way to hold a plecos is one finger on it head and the other on it chin plate you have full control of the pleco from hurting you and them self when trying to get away this work on small and large.

 

[rodger]

The easiest way to hold a plecos is one finger on it head and the other on it chin plate you have full control of the pleco from hurting you and them self when trying to get away this work on small and large.

OK, but WHY hold them? I don't see another type of fish that is removed from the tank for pictures regularly.The vendors do it too, but not the other fish they sell usually.

 

[Jackson]

OK, but WHY hold them? I don't see another type of fish that is removed from the tank for pictures regularly.The vendors do it too, but not the other fish they sell usually.

It's not good practice
I only do it when transferring them.

I guess simple answer is they're a PITA to get a good pic of.




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[mrtoofay]

There are at least 3 reasons.

1. Not to hurt the fish during transportation, from tank to bag. You usually catch fish with your net and transport it to the container or bag right? Have you tried doing with with a pleco? Especially a pseuda pleco? Many plecos are injured while trying to release them from the net that they became tangled in.

2. Not to hurt the person during transportation. Yes, all fish struggle while they are being handled. Plecos do so with much more power. The bigger ones can really cause injury if handled incorrectly. Note the following picture, I was wearing kevlar gloves and the fish wasn't struggling. It still hurts my fingers handling them like that.

3. To display the pleco. When the plecos are handled like that, they "USUALLY" stops struggling and extends all their fins. For some of the shyer plecos, this is the only chance you'll see all their fins fully extended. Example, for L200 green phantom plecos, this is the easiest way to get them to stretch out their fins to ID which type they are.

You can't really hold other types of fish like this because they are too slippery and they don't really stop struggling when you try to do so.

 

[mrtoofay]

Oh, and many plecos can survive out of water for long periods of time, so few min outside doesn't really hurt that much. Some, like the hypostomus plecos such as my luteus, can actually breath air and live for many hours outside of water.

 

[drewbiezy]

I think one of the main reason you see these guys handled more often is for identification purposes I mean there so many different variations that could be misidentified without closer inspection

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[slippery slimecoat]

There are at least 3 reasons.

1. Not to hurt the fish during transportation, from tank to bag. You usually catch fish with your net and transport it to the container or bag right? Have you tried doing with with a pleco? Especially a pseuda pleco? Many plecos are injured while trying to release them from the net that they became tangled in.

2. Not to hurt the person during transportation. Yes, all fish struggle while they are being handled. Plecos do so with much more power. The bigger ones can really cause injury if handled incorrectly. Note the following picture, I was wearing kevlar gloves and the fish wasn't struggling. It still hurts my fingers handling them like that.

3. To display the pleco. When the plecos are handled like that, they "USUALLY" stops struggling and extends all their fins. For some of the shyer plecos, this is the only chance you'll see all their fins fully extended. Example, for L200 green phantom plecos, this is the easiest way to get them to stretch out their fins to ID which type they are.

You can't really hold other types of fish like this because they are too slippery and they don't really stop struggling when you try to do so.

Agreed. Most pictures I've seen of people holding plecos is done when they are moving them for whatever reason. And speaking for myself, I HATE having to move my large pseuda lol. I wouldn't ever use a net due to the risk of injury to the fish. Which leaves me only one option, catch it by hand. Personally, handling my pleco is not something I do unless I have a good reason to.

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[Warborg]

I understand having to do hands on to move a Pleco if they can get hung in the net.

But for pictures I personally oppose it, besides taking pictures of a pleco out of water robs it of it's coloring which makes it alot harder to ID

 

[mrtoofay]

I understand having to do hands on to move a Pleco if they can get hung in the net.

But for pictures I personally oppose it, besides taking pictures of a pleco out of water robs it of it's coloring which makes it alot harder to ID

Most of us know that fish does not like to be handled. We DON'T like handling fish. That's why most of the people you see taking pictures holding plecos (including myself) do so when they needed to be handled anyways. I take pictures of them when they come in. After acclimating process, when I transfer them from the bag to the tank, that's when I take the pictures. For inventory purposes and to show to fellow members.