Trade the clown pleco in on an L-204. You'll still have to siphon out large amounts of sawdust poop, but at least you'll see the beastie occasionally; they aren't nearly as reclusive as the clowns IME.
im going to throw the sailfin in there maybe it will bring him out the third tank is just temp tank to the jd grows out alittle more then i put him in big tank and take the sailfin put him in the 40 gallon hes been in there 6months
My Bristlenose never used to appear in daylight, but she has just started to get braver after about 6 months of being with us. She seems to know mine and my husbands voices (he will NEVER acknowledge this and thinks I am insane!) as she is now happy to come out and truffle around when it's just us at home, but if we have visitors she stays in hiding!
My clown pleco is a rare sight in my tank all it does is sit in the driftwood by day and eat at night. The few times I do see him is in the early AM turning on the lights.