baby pleco has disappeared.

This kind of thing happens often. I have a 25 gallon tank that's just 18x18x18. I stocked it with fish from my other tank, then an apistogramma and 3 amano shrimps. For the longest time I thought for sure the apisto ate the amanos because I hadn't seen them. Then just today I saw them all eating on a piece of driftwood without a care in the world when I had already given up on them being alive haha

I think your fish could be alive, just give it some time and it'll come out. Certainly going in there looking for him isn't going to give the fish anymore confidence to come out and show itself. Other possibilities (not necessarily for your pleco) is that the fish jumped out and a cat got to it. I suspect my cat got a few in the past because I see him roaming around the tank looking at the floor for some fish jerky

You could get a new one but only if it's necessary. You may also want to use a flashlight at night when the lights are off to see if it comes out.

He's not in the filter, but that's really crazy to hear that they can do that (if it hadn't come from this forum I'd have said you were putting me on!) I do have cats so if he did jump, well, you know. He's not anywhere outside the tank that I can find. I don't keep my water up to the top so I'm not thinking he'd be able to jump out but I do sometimes forget to close the lid. He was pretty small but I know even little guys can do some big crazy escapes. It's been two weeks now. Was so enjoying watching him grow up. I had gotten him from a friend who had another his size who also disappeared without a trace.

If he did die inside the tank, is that ok for the rest of my fish? How long before his body just decays away? Nobody seems to be having any problems, and obviously there's no sign of any decaying fish in there...does nature just take care of itself?

sinthesis said:

He's not in the filter, but that's really crazy to hear that they can do that (if it hadn't come from this forum I'd have said you were putting me on!) I do have cats so if he did jump, well, you know. He's not anywhere outside the tank that I can find. I don't keep my water up to the top so I'm not thinking he'd be able to jump out but I do sometimes forget to close the lid. He was pretty small but I know even little guys can do some big crazy escapes. It's been two weeks now. Was so enjoying watching him grow up. I had gotten him from a friend who had another his size who also disappeared without a trace.

If he did die inside the tank, is that ok for the rest of my fish? How long before his body just decays away? Nobody seems to be having any problems, and obviously there's no sign of any decaying fish in there...does nature just take care of itself?

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Bristlenose Plecos for some reason are always the ones that tend to just disappear the most in aquariums and are never seen from again. Heard so many accounts of this happening from various hobbyist. If he was rather small then the time it would take for him to decompose would be quicker than that of a larger fish.

One fish that decayss in a tank shouldn't throw your entire tank into chaos water quality wise, unless the tank itself hasn't been properly maintained. You can always monitor and check the water quality if you're worried about it being affected. Probably not a bad idea to do so considering a fish has disappeared. As for whether your fish will be okay or not they should be fine, I would personally monitor their behavior and keep an eye out for any signs of illness just in case the Pleco was ill.

The problem with a disappearing fish is you don't know really what happen to them. They could have jumped out, deteriorated, or started to decompose and was eaten by other tankmates. That's why I say to monitor the health of your fish for a few days. If the Bristlenose was sick & another fish ate them there's a somewhat small possibility an aliment could be passed along. Better to be safe than sorry.

I think honestly there's nothing to be worried about outside of the missing fish. I'm not a fan of keeping Bristlenose Plecos, for some reason most of the ones currently available at most shops are not very healthy. A lot of the ones you see in the LFS tend to have stomach problems to begin with and are malnourished. Also I've noticed that they don't thrive in 10 gallon tanks, people give a lot of bad advice about Bristlenose Plecos.

Most people will suggest due to their size they can be housed in a 10 Gallon but realistically they grow pretty big up to five inches, granted it's not humongous like a Common Pleco. But that's still not really a suitable environment for them to thrive in.

Sorry for your loss missing fish can be a major annoyance. :icon_conf

*Edit* Do you have snails in your tank? Certain snails devour dead fish which is why some people keep them in aquariums as a "clean up" crew. If you had snails there's a chance they could have gotten to the decomposed Pleco.