Sailfin pleco juvenile surface gulping

[imChio]

hello, i have a young sailfin pleco which is only about 4 inches long and occasionally it will swiftly swim up to the surface for a quick gulp of air and settles back down to the bottom. there is an air bubbling rod and the filter causes surface agitation so the water is oxygenated. as i mentionned it can also be very swift in movement, i was wondering if this is typical behaviour for a young sailfin? water parameters seem fine, 0 nitrate and nitrites.. maybe i think oddly of it since I'm assuming full grown sailfin behaviour.. thank you

my tank is streamed live on twitch.tv/chiosfishies or kick.com/chiosfishies if you want to judge my setup.. the tank is cycled it has been running for months now, the temp is on the higher side pushing 80f

 

[fishthatfit]

That's normal for the genus. Pterygoplichthys are facultative air breathers, using a modified, heavily vascularised stomach as an accessory lung. It's part of how they get through low oxygen dry season pools in the wild, and they'll do it in a well aerated tank too. A quick dart up and straight back down is that, not distress.

What would be worth watching is a change in the pattern: hanging at the surface, or going up every couple of minutes. Also, you listed nitrate and nitrite but not ammonia, and ammonia is the one that pushes fish up there.

 

[imChio]

That's normal for the genus. Pterygoplichthys are facultative air breathers, using a modified, heavily vascularised stomach as an accessory lung. It's part of how they get through low oxygen dry season pools in the wild, and they'll do it in a well aerated tank too. A quick dart up and straight back down is that, not distress.

What would be worth watching is a change in the pattern: hanging at the surface, or going up every couple of minutes. Also, you listed nitrate and nitrite but not ammonia, and ammonia is the one that pushes fish up there.

thanks for the reply, it doesnt happen very often only once or twice per hour.. ammonia is also read as 0, i forgot to mention it