Honestly the first time I had one I didn’t know squat about oddballs or wild caught. Mine died for 2 main contributing factors. It wasn’t eating and my HOB wasn’t doin enough for the water quality. Died within a few weeks.
I recently got 4 of which they went into a large 65 gal with approximately 15 other plecos and 4 electric blue acaras. Took them a decent amount of time to acclimate they were smaller than the other plecos so were timid at feeding time eventually 3 of them got over it and started to get in on the dog pile and one of them didn’t. But I didn’t notice that til it was too late and I lost that one. But now the other 3 have nice chubby bellies like my other ones and they mingle with the others well. I actually saw some mating rituals lastnight between 2 of them as they explored one of the caves so fingers crossed.
For me I found that these were things that worked for me in keepin wild caught and oddball plecos are this and some of these are just plain fish keepin 101
- a really established tank
-Maximize the filtration as much as you can
-Offer them food in the most natural way you can that mimics how they would eat in the wild. (For me that’s using repashy as a staple for all feedings)
- a community of them helps reduce the stress one may suffer if it’s in a tank by itself as long as it’s a grouping that will get along
- 1-2 water changes a week religiously with cold water
- tons of oxygenation
- a lot of caves / over hangs / driftwood
- lots of flow and water circulation
And it goes without saying not every case is the same but the tank I have them in has 4 different filters on it and I add BB into all my tanks every 2nd water change. It may be overkill but Ive only lost that one GN since I ve adopted these things to focus on. And I ve just recently added bamboo shrimp to this tank to help improve the water quality.
I will feed them after and send a few photos of the pleconation I have.