Vanishing Plecos.

[ZEROPILOT]

In the past, any fish that I've used as a "feeder" fish for one of my cichlids that survived. Any catfish or pleco that became too large or any other fish that was being bullied has gone from the house into one of our two small ponds outside.
(Florida has thousands of plecos in our canal systems and I will not release any fish into our local waterways)
Well recently I began to rebuild these ponds and make the area larger. I drained them and scooped out all of the fish and placed them into holding tanks. I found everything except plecos. There should have been three in the smaller pond and four in the larger pond. But there were none.
These ponds were heavily surrounded by pathos vines, etc. And the only thing I can figure is that they all jumped out over a period of time and because of the plant cover, I didn't see them (Or smell them).
Any thoughts?

 

[DutchMuch]

There should have been three in the smaller pond and four in the larger pond.

What type of plecos?....
They Dramatically vary in size based on type.... Some only get 3" some get 3'.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

They are some of the ones that get to be the size of a small surf board.

 

[DutchMuch]

So they would be common plecos....
Dang idk he must be pretty camo

 

[AJ1500]

maybe they just died and decomposed in the pond. one at a time you wouldn't have noticed it

 

[DutchMuch]

maybe they just died and decomposed in the pond. one at a time you wouldn't have noticed it

Yes you would have. All the other fish would have most likely died if this happened or occurred.

 

[Lisak1]

a small surf board.

Say what? Were they this big when they went missing? Because it seems that would be a hard smell to miss!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

They should have all been under 8" when placed into a pond.
That's about the size that the amount of poop generated BY them, negates any benefit of the algae that they clean off of the glass.
It's why I have only "brushy nose" plecos in a few of my tanks. They grow very slowly and stay smaller.

 

[Cj Harvey]

I have five plecos in my pond 1500gallons. I have only seen one in the 6 months that they have been in there. And even when I've gone looking for them they are hard to find. Best option since you are going to rebuild the pond is to drain it to a shallow level and look thru the water. Looking for the sneaky plecos in deep water is tough

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I sifted through them pretty well when I emptied them and then pulled them out of the ground....So we'll that I located all 7 of my green Cory cats.

 

[DutchMuch]

green Cory cats.

never heard of this?
Emerald corydoras you mean?

 

[budgenator]

I had a pleco that jump out of my aquarium and died 20 feet from it! They could be pretty good escape artists.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I had a pleco that jump out of my aquarium and died 20 feet from it! They could be pretty good escape artists.

Yes.
I often see them jump in the canals here.
They jumped out into the plants and became dinner for ants.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I once had one I found in the floor. Stiff and dry.
About an hour and a half after I dropped him back into the fishtank, he was swimming around again. Not dead at all.