Bad plecos!

[pinkertd]

Anybody else every have their bristlenose plecos wander up into the HOB filter? It happened a couple of weeks ago with my almost adult female. I knew she was missing cause it's only her and the male in that 20G tank. Last night I cleaned one of my emporer filters on the 72G to find one of my 1" albinos in the bottom of the filter! Now I'm never gonna relax with the plecos in the 72, there's 4 and you rarely see them all at one time, lots of plants and driftwood to hide them. Considering I only clean the filters out every several weeks, if another pleco sucks it's way into one of the filter boxes, is it going to die or can it live in there for a while?

Debbi

 

[Dwarf Puffers]

It may be able to live if it doesn't get killed (by the whirling parts and things) by eating the gathering algae and uneaten food.

But you could just get a sponge to cover the holes...

 

[Malbri]

or cover the intake with a foot from a pantyhose

 

[wataugachicken]

mine often try and sometimes succeed in getting into the filters - they don't go up the intake, they brave the current and use the suction from their mouths to p-u-l-l themselves through the outflow. keep your water level below the rim of the outflow so they can't reach it.

 

[pinkertd]

Mine are getting in the filter box through the outflow. Guess they get started with the cleaning on the outflow, head north, and soon find themselves in the box! With 3 tanks on all three levels of my house, If I were to lower the water level to below the outfall I'd go insane :crazy: from the waterfall splashings of the Emporer biowheel........so that is not an option.

 

[KnaveTO]

Sure your pleco isn't part Salmon