Anyone else have a pleco that does this?

babysteps

AC Members
Feb 15, 2009
100
0
0
Canada
Since I have given my pleco's their own tank (which just so happens to be right beside me on my desk), I find myself paying attention to what they are doing a lot more than I used to. They are actually a very fascinating species. But anyways, on to the point..
Lately I have noticed both doing this randomly. They will be rasping on their driftwood or some other rock/decoration thing upside down, which is normal behavior. And then all of a sudden they just let go. They end up laying on their backs not attached to anything. They only do this when there is something solid, or the sand bed, directly below them, so it's not like they fall or anything. It's more like they fall asleep and lose suction lol.
All it takes is me making a little noise or getting close to the tank and they will snap out of it and go back to what they were doing. But I just find it very cute. I wish I could get a good pic of it but I usually notice it after lights out and my camera sucks.

It worried me at first. I thought they may be sick, but they look and act extremely healthy and eat like the little pigs they have always been. I guess they just enjoy some rest and relaxation once in awhile lol.
 
I just checked my camera, and a couple of the pics I took turned out ok. So I'll post them just so you get what I'm trying to explain.

Both pics are of my male BN. I havn't been able to catch a pic of my female doing it yet.



002-1.jpg


002-2.jpg
 
Weird.
 
one of my chocolates does this... I acctually attempted to remove him once because I thought he was dead lol

doesnt seem to be a bad thing to me... they really do seem to fall asleep upside down.. I wonder if it has something to do with a mouth injury or a weak sucker lol. interesting
 
That is strange. I have never seen any of mine doing that.
 
When I first got my brown lf bn I seen him like this under a log, I thought it was dead/dying/or stuck so I reached down in there and he moved right away too lol but I've never seen my female do it.. or caught my male doing it since? Maybe he was just super tired from the ride over haha
 
Cute. Kind of like a clown loach sleeping on its side.
 
AquariaCentral.com