Shy gold nugget. I want to see him more.

Also by starving them a little by not feeding for a few days....they are forced to go out in search for food; thats where they will explore and get to know the environment better...and understand that they wont be hurt if they come out during "daylight".
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I realise 5-7 days probably isn't going to hurt it but should we starve you out to make you do something you don't want to do! Imo no pet is perfect and the tendency of plecos to hide is there down side. If its comfortable and feels like comming out it will, if it doesn't why should you force it out.
 
Well in nature who is to say that they eat everyday at say 7pm. Im sure there are periods of starvation in the wild where they wont eat for days.....due to food being unavailable. All beings on the planet are conditioned in one way or another ...and that includes humans. Why do we force our dogs to not poop indoors......etc. I can see what you are saying...but if we arent hurting the little guys.....whats the problem?
 
Very dark substrate is said to make reclusive fish feel safer in coming out. I have a royal pleco that will come out whenever food is around and also from time to time on its own. My clown pleco comes out if it's really hungry. Both of these are in a tank with light gravel. I'm getting black sand to see if it gets the queen arabesque, candy stripe, and unidentified plecos out. Lemon tetras and rosy barbs make good dither fish. The tetras are less likely to harass each other if the male/female ratio isn't right, but 1/3 for the rosy barbs is good.
 
hmm, I have never thought of the substrate making the fish more reclusive.

I have light brown round stone substrate. Maybe they feel they can blend in more with a darker substrate and be more comfortable.

I also don't know if I want to go a few days without feeding them. I currently feed a little in the morning and most of their food is fed at night. I could just feed only in the morning but then they may just wait until it's dark to come out and look for it.

For now I'm going to try a moonlight which I am going to get on friday hopefully. If that helps I may just stick with that. I wouldn't mind going to a darker substrate but that will require a lot of work to change. If the moonlight doesn't help and they still won't come out unless it's completely dark then maybe I'll try a darker substrate. It's just been bothering me that I've had them in the tank for almost 2 years and they are still as shy as the day I put them in.
 
If you have other fish in the tank......and feed in the morning(lights on)....the food will be gone by the time the evening comes. So eventually they will get the hint that they needto eat in the morning or not at all. Again...comes down to conditioning. i've worked with my plecos.......and they all couldnt be better....i would never do anything bad for them as they are my faves. So I personally dont think there is an issue there. :)
 
Almost all my fancy pl*cos are out all the time but are usually shy at first, give it time and feed during the day(with foods like bloddworm).My gold nugget is actually one of my most active and hes even begining to come near me whn I'm hand feeding veggies to my bristlenose.My little royal was the shyest but he has eventually realised theres no threat in coming out during the day.

Heres a pic I snapped lately, see the nugget right at the front :D

tbarbabies1.jpg
 
Wow, that's amazing. I can't believe he didn't go running to hide when you got up to the tank with the camera. I can't get near my tank before he runs for cover, but I can watch from a distance.

I also like that substrate is it hard to find??
 
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