How to coax juvenile L46 from it's hiding place

[crazie.eddie]

I have a juvenile L46 a bought a few weeks ago, which was about 1". I put a piece of wood on their to munch on or hide under. I knew there were little crevaces in there that it can hide in, but I noticed there are even deeper crevaces that the L46 gets into. It's doing well and eating, becuase I see the bloodworms I placed are gone and fecis all over the place. I placed another piece of wood, with no crevaces, that I hoped it would go to, but it hasn't. I would like to coax it out, if it's possible. I don't want to take the wood out of the water to saw it or break it open, becuase I could stress or damage the pleco. Should I just leave it alone? Is there a chance that it would get stuck in there as it gets bigger and not be able to remove itself?

[madmoroccan]

I think the best thing to do is to leave it well alone. If it ain't broke then don't try to fix it.

If you are really keen to get it away from the piece of wood then why not try and put a cave in the tank?

Do a search on cave dimentions.

[dave]

Leave it alone, if you try to coax it out it may actually by looking for more cover get stuck.

Offer it alternative hiding places with slate lean toos, it may find somewhere it prefers.

Dave

[crazie.eddie]

I was just concerned, since I can't see it well, I don't know if it has any illnesses or injuries. The other piece of wood I have, there are some areas underneath where I was hoping it would make a new hope, but hasn't. I was also worried that as it grows, it may get stuck in the little deep crevices.

I can say that it has a nice well developed tail with nice color

[nesolb]

You're best to just leave the little fella alone. Since the zebra is naturally a shy fish they do tend to hide away very well, it's completely normal!!!

Like the others have suggested I would provide a few more hiding places for it, you may find it will find a suitable spot and keep going back to it; a safe haven if you like.

I'm not sure putting a cave in the tank will make that much difference since the little fella is only 1" in size, he's probably more interested in keeping himself to himself at this point.

[McEve]

The more hiding places the bolder they get

[crazie.eddie]

Well, I was lucky. I positioned the piece of would vertically, instead of it's usual horizontal position. Apparantely, the L-46 didn't like being high up and preferred to be lower in the tank. I happened to be looking for it in the deep crevice and I couldn't even see any sign of it. I lifted up the other piece of wood and found the L46 under it. I was happy to see it and in healthy condition. I quickly removed the original piece of wood so it can't hide in the little crevices again.

[nesolb]

The more hiding places the bolder they get

That's a good point actually. When I first got my zebs and gave them lots of hiding places I never saw them, obviously this was largly due to them settling in; but once they were they became a lot more lively.

What I've found though is that they, mine that is, do seem to hang around in the same spot i.e if you see them eating in the open and you catch them off guard they'll dart off back to their 'little spot'.