My pleco is about 10" and I caught him in the wild. Any clue as to how old he might be? I rarely say this about a fish, but he kinda sucks (no pun intended). I wasn't allowed to throw the plecos I caught back into the park's waters, so I decided to keep one to clean my tank. He basically lives under a rock and I still end up using my mag-float. I'd say that he prefers wood but he's never on that either. Sometimes he moves at night but not much. I might go catch myself a new one instead.