My Clown pleco is so shy?

[JEGuerra]

So I've had a clown pleco for some time now, and all he does is hide around in this skull decoration I have. I have a nice piece of driftwood in the tank and I've been trying to coax him to go to it so I can actually see him. Any ideas of ways to make him a little less shy or is this just common clown pleco nature?

 

[fishorama]

Clown plecos are pretty much nocturnal. I only saw mine active when I was up in the middle of the night or hiding under wood or rocks during the day...It's not all bad being an insomniac

 

[JEGuerra]

Clown plecos are pretty much nocturnal. I only saw mine active when I was up in the middle of the night or hiding under wood or rocks during the day...It's not all bad being an insomniac

Alright cool, I figured as much as other than bringing him home the only time I've seen him was when I was up super late, so I wanted to make sure that was normal lol. Also I plan to get some bn plecos, but I read somewhere that male bn plecs might fight with the clown so I was considering just getting a pair of female bn, thoughts?

 

[fishorama]

I think I said in 1 of your threads, I'd go with female bns, no males, or just 1 hiding male & no females. But with the clown pleco & bn(s) you want to have several hiding places so each can choose, 2 plecos, at least 4 "caves"; 3 plecos, maybe 5 or 6+...at least some should be wood, say half or more, just a guesstimate. & as I said, female bns are not as territorial over caves as males; clown plecos need a daytime hideout. They're half the size of adult bns & will lose any battles over caves...especially with a bigger male bn...they all have pectoral spines & can hurt each other if too provoked...again big bn, longer spines & larger body mass = better able to defend his chosen nest.

If you want to see your clown pleco more, try having the tank lights go off a couple hours before room lights go off (& you go to bed) & feed a bit after tank lights go off...that only works a little, many fish will eat in "twilight"...I don't think corys miss food at any time, lol. They feed by "smell" more than by sight. It's all a matter of fine tuning for your tank & fish as to what & when you feed. I use cheap timers to control lights, feeding is a bit more hit or miss.

 

[JEGuerra]

I think I said in 1 of your threads, I'd go with female bns, no males, or just 1 hiding male & no females. But with the clown pleco & bn(s) you want to have several hiding places so each can choose, 2 plecos, at least 4 "caves"; 3 plecos, maybe 5 or 6+...at least some should be wood, say half or more, just a guesstimate. & as I said, female bns are not as territorial over caves as males; clown plecos need a daytime hideout. They're half the size of adult bns & will lose any battles over caves...especially with a bigger male bn...they all have pectoral spines & can hurt each other if too provoked...again big bn, longer spines & larger body mass = better able to defend his chosen nest.

If you want to see your clown pleco more, try having the tank lights go off a couple hours before room lights go off (& you go to bed) & feed a bit after tank lights go off...that only works a little, many fish will eat in "twilight"...I don't think corys miss food at any time, lol. They feed by "smell" more than by sight. It's all a matter of fine tuning for your tank & fish as to what & when you feed. I use cheap timers to control lights, feeding is a bit more hit or miss.

Alright Cool, rn I don't have many caves necessarily, other than one skull decoration that the clown has taken over. I have a couple big rocks with some small rocks leaning on it, but it's more of a tunnel than a cave. Perhaps I'll try and rearrange my rocks or get some others to try and make more cave like structures in the tank, because I would like to add 2 f bn plecos

 

[JEGuerra]

I think I said in 1 of your threads, I'd go with female bns, no males, or just 1 hiding male & no females. But with the clown pleco & bn(s) you want to have several hiding places so each can choose, 2 plecos, at least 4 "caves"; 3 plecos, maybe 5 or 6+...at least some should be wood, say half or more, just a guesstimate. & as I said, female bns are not as territorial over caves as males; clown plecos need a daytime hideout. They're half the size of adult bns & will lose any battles over caves...especially with a bigger male bn...they all have pectoral spines & can hurt each other if too provoked...again big bn, longer spines & larger body mass = better able to defend his chosen nest.

If you want to see your clown pleco more, try having the tank lights go off a couple hours before room lights go off (& you go to bed) & feed a bit after tank lights go off...that only works a little, many fish will eat in "twilight"...I don't think corys miss food at any time, lol. They feed by "smell" more than by sight. It's all a matter of fine tuning for your tank & fish as to what & when you feed. I use cheap timers to control lights, feeding is a bit more hit or miss.

Oh wow! I did what you recommended and turned the tank lights off before my room lights, and I just checked and wouldn't you know, there's my clown pleco just sittin right there!

 

[fishorama]

Told ya so! LOL! Now think about adding a couple real wood pieces, they grow "micro-goodies" that even non-wood eating plecos & some other fish enjoy. Some plecos actually need to have the "lignin" wood fiber provides, some just like it. It's a bit debatable as to who "needs" it vs those that like it, but it's good to have some either way.