TheFishFinder

Maybe someone can help me understand this. Awhile back we started out with guppies. We also got a Plecostamus..Pleacly.(Plea-kleee)
He got bigger and bigger, and lived for about a year and a half or so.

We got a few goldfish and I remembered something-Pleacly used to breach. Yes. Breach. He settled at the bottom of the tank, then shot up to the surface, shaking all the water and slightly unnerving the shrimp, then settled again. We had no clue what this meant.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!

sounds like there could have been high ammonia and he was going for some surface oxygen

g-g

its pretty normal in a lot of bottom dwelling catfish types.
They take large gulps of oxygen and go back to the bottom.
Its probably due to less circulation of water and hence O2 nearer the bottom of the tank.
Its fine though, they adapted to it.

Shawnie

Ive never seen any of my plecs or catfish(I have pictus) spurt the to top for air and go back down...if they do, theres something wrong with the water...although who knows what they do at night when we all are sleeping

gremlin

I've seen my plecos do that. When they are out in the pond, they will float upside down under the lily pads and clean the algae off. When I had them inside over the winter, they would do somersaults. The water parameters were all within proper limits and I had bubblers going all across the back so there was a current going. I could actually watch the air bubbles hitting the bottom of the tank so I know there was plenty of oxygen everywhere in the tank. They would still release a bubble of air and then do their somersault thing and gulp another bubble of air. Sometimes they would do this over and over. I think they were playing... It could also be that they have a swim bladder and were refreshing the air in their swim bladder. Nah - I still think they were playing!

prairielilly

Every kind of cory I've ever kept has done that, and from what I've read they have the ability to metabolize air - they swallow it and are able to utilize its oxygen. My other fish are all doing well, the water parameters are all within normal limits, the tanks get regular cleanings and water changes, and I use airstones. It's a normal part of being a catfish. I don't know if the same applies to plecos though, it might, or it may have had something to do with excessive ammonia from the goldfish.