Color changing pleco???

[confusion]

I have a pleco from that I bought a long time ago from petsmart, sold as a common pleco. This one is in a 55G in my home office and it has the ability to change it's color to match it's background - to some extent. I had never really paid attention to it much, but the other day I looked in and thought it had died. It was laying on the substrate, which is aquatic soil - a fairly light tan color. The plec was pale and nearly the same color of the substrate. I went in to get it and he took off. Later, he was on the black filter intake, and his color was a very dark brown.

Now, I have some angels that will display or hide their stripes as they get excited or stressed, but this seems to be more of a camouflage than stress related.

Are pleco's known to do this? I have two other common plecs in a different tank, and they are always the same color.

 

[pinkertd]

They are known to do that. My bristlenose do that all the time. Sometimes they get patchy colored light and dark when they are scared. When I first saw the patchy colors I thought they had a skin disease!:grinyes:

 

[Lupin]

Even my bristlenose, Sturisoma panamense, Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps and Rineloricaria change color from time to time.:grinyes:

 

[Hooked Newbie]

I can attest to the fact that Pinkert's BNs do that! :grinyes:

 

[Dschwec]

Mine was a dark almost black color. Very deep and rich looking. Once I made the move to my new home, and he spent the night in a 5 gallon pail, he developed light patches. They are going away now a week or so later, but his spotted coloring obviously had to do with the move, the new water, and the subsequent stress of it all. I know one thing...I will probably give him away at some point, I think. This thing has grown like a weed! In just over a year, it went from a 2.5" juvie to a 10" beast! It is mild mannered, but is some what a pain, as it likes to re-arrange my tank and disconnect stuff. At this rate of growth, it will be scary to think how big it will be by next year.

 

[KnaveTO]

You obviously very much got a jeuvenile. The biggest growth spurt is over, however they can grow upwards to 18" over their 10-15year lifespan