I have a yellow / golden bristlenose pleco that likes to redecorate my tank every night by digging up the substrate. Has anyone had any luck getting them to calm down?
Kade
Member
my pleco loved to dig up the substrate and made a little cave home under my rocks. I just dealt with it. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable could help with that though to prevent it.
mimo91088
Member
I'm by no means an expert. But I've made sure my male always has a choice between 3 ceramic caves and he's never dug up substrate.
Nessaf
Member
Does your pleco have a cave to hide in or claim as territory? I notice that mine don’t redecorate as much since they have plenty of lairs to claim as their own.
StinkyLoaf
Member
I have a pleco that will stop at nothing to dig to his preference. The tank he’s in often gets reshuffled around to break up aggression between his tankmates, and each time I relocate his favourite piece of driftwood, he digs underneath it to form a cave. You can see the glass at the bottom of the tank when peering into his secret hideout. The substrate is sand so the pleco creates a big hurling ball of sand when he digs. By using sand it should be easier for a pleco to rearrange the substrate than with gravel.
I’d let your pleco dig. They are just digging fish and they like to do it. When swimming they will kick up the substrate anyway so there’s not much to be done, but I wouldn’t worry as long as he is happy and healthy.
AggressiveAquatics
Member
IME plecos only dig and try and make hiding spots are if they don’t have enough territory or not enough hiding spots
Thread Starter
Stevejvan
Member
mimo91088 said:
I'm by no means an expert. But I've made sure my male always has a choice between 3 ceramic caves and he's never dug up substrate.
I breed bristlenose plecos and have never had a problem with that. What size is your tank? Do you have enough decorations? If it is a male it may be doing that for territorial reasons.
