Pleco intelligence

[Edarion]

Apparently, Plecos show a high degree of intelligence?
Anyone heard of this? just how intellligent are they.,...

Pleco Fish Profile, with care, maintenance requirements and breeding information for your tropical fish

[2wheelsx2]

Some are smart and some are not as smart. It varies from species to species. But since they live a long time and some grow to a great size, they obviously have to be fairly intelligent to get to that size in the wild.

[onefishtwofish]

well i know my big guy plants himself front and center at feeding time.....

[gimlid]

I have noticed some definate learned ability in mine. Especially my common actually.

[Edarion]

such as ????

[2wheelsx2]

They learn where the food is, which fish are their competitors. They also learn to swim upside down so that they can get to the fish first. Mine also seem to recognize me vs. my wife and children, for instance. What have you observed in yours?

[gimlid]

I totally agree in the stuff wheels reported. I definately notice how my bigger plecos react to different people. My housekeeper feeds my fish when I am working out of town, but not when I am at home. They still attempt to beg for food when she comes near for a few weeks after I come home.
they arent afraid of my son but my neighbours or other friends frighten them horribly.
they ignore me unless I go near the shelf where the food is first haha.
they appear to be observing what goes on around them all the time. they are good at knowing when they can be seen and when they are hidden.
thats just off the top of my head.

[Edarion]

Mine tries to jump out of the tank every time I feed it.
MY BNP just figured out how to crawl into my sponge filter and back out. amazing

[roadrunner]

Mine little albino sure is very smart. He/she knows when feeding time is and where exactly to look for the shrimp pellets. Also second day I had him/her he climbed up to my filter. I found him/her there when I got back from work and now he/she stays in the tank ever since. Learned the lesson for sure. Must have been pretty scared in small dark place poor little thing ) He is only over 1" long now

[Mferko]

Mine tries to jump out of the tank every time I feed it.
MY BNP just figured out how to crawl into my sponge filter and back out. amazing

one of mine keeps doing that too, it seems to really like it in there with all those bubbles blowing past it lol, and he spins around the tube really fast while upside down.