Changing color

plecos will often try to blend in with whatever surface they are on.

i have baby bristlenose plecos in a tank that has dark driftwood and tan coloured play sand. i have watched a baby come off the wood and onto the sand just yesterday, and slowly lighten in colour to match the sand as close as it could.

Yes they do change colors, at least some of them. My yellow pleco obviously stays yellow at all time, I am sure zebra and other specially colored ones do too. But any brown regular color pleco can change a little. I have a calico pleco that was on black sand as a baby and it turned almost as black as the sand. In his tank now it's brownish pea gravel and he looks like his normal color.

Shrimp will do this as well, that is why cherries are best on dark colors because then they turn super red, on white sand they kind of become clear and lose a lot of there color.