A fish called MacGyver!

As I was daydreaming in front of the Goldies Tank, something small and black caught my eyes.

What a surprise! There was two baby plecos enjoying a zucchini.




I immediately switch off the powerhead and placed a stocking over the intake strainer (5mm holes are not small fry friendly).

After about 30 minutes of trying to catch them, I gave up and hoped for the best. Goldies are not the fastest swimmers and these little critters should have a fighting chance with all the dense plants and driftwood in the tank.

The next day I started with the installation of the diy auto siphon and disconnected the two 3 L (110mm pvc) cannisters. The cannisters are placed inside a plastic bin because I always end up spilling some water when replacing the filter media. I quickly scanned the cannister for any survivors but none were found. I finished up late and decided to clean the cannister bin the next morning.

As a rule I always double check any water before I dump it in the garden, and got another surprise!

There was a barely visible small little pleco swimming around in the bin.



The pleco was name “MacGyver” (A-Team pun) because of escaping the powerhead impellor and surviving the 1500 L/h flow inside the cannister for who knows how long.

I scooped up some water and after acclimation, added the little pleco back to the main tank.

He immediately swam for the “forest” of plants in the middle.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the three musketeers’ luck does not run out xD

 

Yea, his discovery caused reactions from my daughters like "Aaaawwwh, he is so quite!"

Hee hee, maybe his name should be Hillstream MacGyver

 

That is awesome, congratulations!!

They are little fighters so im sure they will be fine

 

Sooooo funny. I just called my uncle that way today hahahaha. McGyver the man that made a helicopter from a paperclip !

No Cory no glory

 

Correct, the escape artist guru xD

 

@Toy I had a similar thing happen to me with a guppy and a red eye tetra that were in the bucket of water that was about to be discarded from a canister clean out. It was one of those WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT moments of surprise. They had been in the canister for at least 4 months!! WTF

Good luck with pleco babies, what type of plecos are they?



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Wow, that is extreme, and they survivived all that time!

I remember when I started fishkeeping back in the 80's I lost a pleco, presumed eaten, only to find him again about 6 month later when I cleaned the gravel. He was munching away under the gravel filters and grew to twice the size of his intank mate xD

They are Bristlenose plecos. Extremely cute when they are so small.

I managed to spot one yesterday evening as he was hiding under the zucchini and enjoying some.

It is very interesting so see how mom or dad guard them while they are eating, dorsal fin extended and on alert, then the Goldies avoid the area.