Pleco almost jumping

[Yanbbrox]

I've had plecos for many years, when we first started out in the hobby 10 years ago or so we had a tiny tank with community fish and the commons would always for no reason rush to the top of the tank and go straight back to the bottom again, no pattern to this just every now and again.

Since then quickly we upgraded the tank where again the commons would do this, sometimes not for days and then once a week or so, strange behavior but thought nothing of it. 2 of the big commons died within a few days, this is going back a few years now, one remained.

Recently we moved one only bigger common out of the large tank into our little pleco community(a 55g). There are 6 different pleco in that tank and with more than regular water changes and lots of wood they seem to thrive, but the commons still do this dart to the surface every now and again.

Can someone explain why? just curious?

 

[Allan01230]

Possibly need more aereation?

 

[Yanbbrox]

Possibly need more aereation?

That's an odd first reply to me, thanks for the post, I'll explain.

My pleco community tank has fish ranging from 10'' to 1'' and the only two that do it are my 10'' common and the 2'' common. I have a few small community fish in there that every now and again look oxygen starved and I've got a large air pump next to the tank just in case(actually it's a spare that I keep for emergencies). I run it for an hour and the fish chill(once or twice a month), the plecos never do this when it's running. It seems like a phase thing nothing for months followed by a day or two of this activity

 

[wingate2581]

I would suggest leaving the air stone in all the time if the comm. fish look O2 starved every once in a while. I would have to agree with AllanO123. Do any of the fish look like they are breathing abnormally from time to time?

 

[Yanbbrox]

I would suggest leaving the air stone in all the time if the comm. fish look O2 starved every once in a while. I would have to agree with AllanO123. Do any of the fish look like they are breathing abnormally from time to time?

No not really, there is only a couple of small bala sharks in there apart from the plecos. Not the best fish to show signs as they constantly move there lips

 

[Anna]

Hi, it is normal for Commons to do this. Mine is 4 years old and has always done it. My other fish don't do it.

 

[wingate2581]

Ya know I got thinking about it and my gibby acted very active for a pleco. Not quite the same behavior you described but always swimming up and down. Sometimes you would think he mistook himself for a midswimmer.lol Maybe the noise or commotion from the airstone makes them act more shy? I did not have an airstone with my gibby.

 

[oscar n redtail cat]

pleco are air breathing fish like the arapimagigas as they will get stuck in bad water condition when the amozon stops flooding they need it every cupple of hours nuffing 2 be botherd about rely if its what im thinking of my plecs do it every cupple if hours

 

[Yanbbrox]

pleco are air breathing fish like the arapimagigas as they will get stuck in bad water condition when the amozon stops flooding they need it every cupple of hours nuffing 2 be botherd about rely if its what im thinking of my plecs do it every cupple if hours

Thanks Josh, just looking for other experiences

 

[srikamaraja]

They can breathe air when they need to, but if they're doing it more than once every few hours, there is something wrong.