P. anguillaris burrowing

[Mark in Vancouver]

I only noticed recently that my P. anguillaris do indeed burrow. They're even able to "back up" down their little holes, so I wonder if they excrete a slime coat that enables them to hold the shape of their tunnels. These are very narrow kuhlis, and quite long now - four inches? Anyway, the mystery of why I hardly ever see them seems to be solved. The P. myersi jumbo kuhlis don't bother with burrowing at all.

[Graeme Robson]

Nice pictures, Mark.

At first mine (12 of them) would be visible 24/7, but now i only see them in full body and out of the sand substrate once a week after water changes. All other times i can see there "tiny" faces looking at me.

[Mark in Vancouver]

You keep yours in finer sand, though, don't you? I was surprised that they even could burrow - as you can see, it's small gravel as opposed to sand.

[Graeme Robson]

I suppose the intentions are there. Far as i'm aware, i've never seen any other Pangio that purposely burrows with given shelters around them.


Graeme.

[mamaschild]

So THAT explains it GREAT pics, too

I normally only see 2 or 3 of mine at a time, but had 6 or 8 of them out after my last water change. I know they like to be in the base of the plants, but didn't realize they burrowed.

Guess I need to be even more careful when vaccing, although I don't get that close to the plants. The horsefaces are no problem....they move

[gulogulo]

I have 8 that burrow extensively. I have only had them a couple of months and they are seen above ground more now than they were before. For the first couple weeks I had to search just to make sure they were alive. Now if I feed them and wait I can usually spot all 8 coming out of the gravel within 15 minutes.
I am in the process of setting up a sand tank for them. It will be interesting to see if their habits change.

[Laura]

I've got 4 in a tank with small gravel and haven't found them buried yet. Mine live under a piece of driftwood and come out at feeding time - they also travel through the plants at the back of the tank when they want to move away from the driftwood - very secretive little guys - in my tank anyways.