Sucker!!
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86713)
United States
June 9, 2018 10:43am CST
Calling someone a “sucker” isn’t nice. Fear not, I’m not calling anybody a sucker.
But the shoe fits here.
This is our “sucker.” Technically a bristlenose pleco. He swims around the boss’s aquarium, eating all the algae that accumulates.
He’s funny: this is a “typical” pose for him, hanging on the glass and sucking the algae off. We have a “tropical” scene in the aquarium, and he’s also frequently hanging on the palm tree. And he will hang there for hours.. I feed them when I come in, and again when I leave (four hours later). There are days he hasn’t moved.
The algae eaters are good for the ecology of the aquarium. He’s the biggest fish in there by a mile, but it’s a peaceful coexistence.
No SpongeBob SquarePants characters were harmed in the posting of this discussion. 
8 people like this
10 responses
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32760)
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Jun 18
do not release that thing on the wild it is invasive.
2 people like this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
9 Jun 18
@topffer — yes indeed. The aquarium water temperature is about 87F (30C), so he’s definitely happy in there.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
15 Jul 18
@FourWalls
That is interesting that he can hang on the palm tree for hours. Does he interact with the other fish if you have them in there?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
16 Jul 18
Not all that much. He's an algae eater, and the other fish eat "normal fish food." There's one of those in the aquarium at the office where I take respiratory therapy, and it's the same thing with that one: sucking the algae and leaving the other fish alone.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
16 Jul 18
@Hannihar -- they live in a "different world," so to speak. He's almost always on or near the bottom, eating the algae, while the other fish swim in the "middle" or near the top of the water. Plus, the other fish move, while this one tends to find a spot and stay there until he's got his fill of algae.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
16 Jul 18
@FourWalls
So do the others just swim around him then?
1 person likes this
@topffer (42155)
• France
9 Jun 18
@FourWalls The problem is that when they grow they are usually devastating aquariums to eat more. It is surprising that this one has not started to dig. There is perhaps no sand in this aquarium ?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
9 Jun 18
@topffer — no, the bottom is aquarium rock.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
9 Jun 18
As I told Crossbones, it was TINY when the boss first put him in there two years ago.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
9 Jun 18
Don't bother me I am eating. He is huge from the looks of it. Funny how fish can be so big and eat the smallest of food. I mean the whales that eat plankton. How do they get so big eating that crap. Should be a size of tad pole.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
9 Jun 18
You should’ve seen him when the boss first got him: he was tinier than Elton John’s tiny dancer! 
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
9 Jun 18
@FourWalls Wow fish are crazy. How do you get fish bones out of your throat. Some one has a fish bone in their throat and I thought they were making a funny the way they described it. Maybe I will look up how bears do it but pretty sure they just swallow them whole so probably do not have that problem
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
9 Jun 18
@crossbones27 — the only way I know to avoid fish bones in your throat is to do what I do: don’t eat fish. (Seriously, I’m allergic to seafood, so a bone in the throat would be the least of my worries...)
(Seriously, I’m allergic to seafood, so a bone in the throat would be the least of my worries...)1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9308)
• Canada
10 Jun 18
Our local hospital has two of these in the Aquariums they have in the cafeteria. Are they related to the lamprey eel? I know they are not vicious but they look vicious. 
1 person likes this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
9 Jun 18
It's a janitor fish, careful not to let it lose in the wild, our country had a lot of problems that persists up to now because of that invasive specie getting into our lakes, rivers and other fresh bodies of water. the problem started from careless fish enthusiasts, it caused a wide spread ecological imbalance.
Fishermen have â??declared war" against a â??nuisance" nocturnal fish species with a sucker-like mouth, said to be causing the degradation of Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines and the second largest inland freshwater lake in Southeast Asia
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
9 Jun 18
And here I thought you meant My Boy Lollipop.
1 person likes this
@DesirousDreamer (34776)
• Peoria, Arizona
9 Jun 18
I always love watching these guys. They are so interesting!
1 person likes this
