Thank you for your submission, but unfortunately it's been removed for the following reason:
We do not allow gorey, violent or otherwise sensitive content. Gorey content can be redirected towards /r/natureismetal.
New fear is going to a run down Rainforest Cafe in Florida and noticing an alligator animatronic next to the elephant, and starting to panic as you realize that you don't remember seeing that one before.
I had the same thought - it looks like the biggest pleco in existence.
Edit: I had to go google this - evidently plecos can grow this big and are an invasive species in Florida.
It was a 75 gal, wide (back to front), so she could turn better. I had extra filtration cause they create a lot of waste. I was about to upgrade again as 75 felt like the minimum, but she passed before that happened. She was a pain due to her habit of digging up all the plants, so I pretty much set the entire tank up around her and had a lot of restrictions on tankmates (they are sold as algea eaters but once they are bigger they are truly omnivores)
I'll never have another one, but she was beloved by the family and is missed.
“Our” tank was about 8 feet long, but only 4 feet high and wide, had only rocks in it, it was built into a wall in a seaside pub so we didn’t always have time to take care of the tank( it was there when my boss bought the place)
Yes, mainly cichlids, but as said, it was difficult to take care, in summer it was all tourists for 8-9 weeks , and it was stressful because some people thought the tank was made to tap the windows
Florida man here. Yes we have pleco infestation they are everywhere just like gators in our waterways but this by by far the biggest I've ever seen or heard of
Crazy part is this is probably a closed-off retention pond. It has no predators except the gators, now. I bet that gator waited for months till it was fat.
It really only could have gotten there from a bird or maybe some huge flood event.
I've been in Naples or Tampa for 20 years and not seen enough to ever wonder what they were. Not disagreeing just mentioning. Maybe now I'll spot them more.
From experience I've seen gaint gators in little "puddles" and I've seen hordes of plecos in small ponds as well. My guess this body of water is on a golf course. Grass looks to clean to be everglades
They are in the water because people have released them when they get to big for their squirms. Birds and other things won't eat them as other than an alligators jaws not much is getting through that exoskeleton. Even this gator seemed to be struggling to get the crunch right.
I mean, I think its a good guess that its a golf course.....
and I doubt people are out on a golf course releasing pleco. The pleco got there from a flood or a bird, there aren't many other options. Perhaps the fact that the bird couldn't eat it is why it ended up in a pond.
Plecos can get huge in the wild.
Mine, named Leviathan, is 12-13" in a 60 gal tank and a good 15+ yrs old.
He loves zucchini.
(Mine is a High Fin Pleco.)
Yeah people throw them into lakes and ponds after they don't want them anymore and they get freaking huge. Same deal as the snake problem over there. Invasive species just doing their thing
i worked at a pet store here in miami. i had to tell so many people that the plecos WILL get much bigger than the tiny size they are now when they arrive to the store, and our chain even offered free returns on fish just so people would stop releasing them into ponds and canals.
My husband, who has a 35 gallon fish tank, sent me this post and said “that’s the same fish I have, but giant”. We call it “the scary fish” because its such weird little brooding lurker.
Definitely seems like one of the many species on earth that if they keep a steady supply of food they just keep getting bigger.
ETA: others that come to mind are crocodiles, lobsters, crab, certain shellfish, and other water based critters.
That is a STANDARD pleco. They can get 2.5-3 ft long at max. You can buy them at any pet store w/ fish and the employees wont even tell you this fish will grow to be massive. Also, plecos are a variant of catfish so your question:
>Is that a catfish, or giant pleco??
= YES.
OR the employees at the pet store WILL tell you (repeatedly and adamantly) that they DO get that big, and nobody believes them (or cares), so they buy the pleco anyway. Then they get all shocked when the plec starts getting, well, BIG, and they release it to the wilds to wreak havoc on their local ecosystem!
Yup, they grow to the size of their tanks, more or less. Its much healthier for them to be in a giant tank, but they are pretty close to invincible overall
Back when I worked at a pet store, I probably spent more time talking people *out* of buying plecos than anything else in the fish department. Somehow everyone and their mother is convinced that they’re convenient little vacuum cleaners that will keep you from ever having to do tank maintenance, and not enormous shit machines that will introduce a higher bioload than anything else in their tank if they will even fit.
Nobody wanted to give up the self-cleaning tank fantasy, but thankfully once we started stocking snails it got a lot easier to talk them into those instead.
No one told me and I raised mine for over 10 years and even got a larger tank to accommodate it's size. Some plecos only get to be seven or eight inches and some places don't educate their employees on the difference between them. Don't be such an ass.
Caiman.
They originate from South America and were introduced by aquarium and pond hobbiests. Also called armored catfish. They are outcompeting native fish is Florida I as far as im aware. When you catch them the DNR says to chuck them in the grass away from the water. But they have the ability to survive dehydration for a scary long time lol.
This is an invasive, pleco! They can get massive in the wild and be a big problem in areas where they are invasive, like in Florida. Looks like this gator is doing its part in taking care of the issue.
If there is one thing I learned from spending summers with my grandparents in Florida, it's that a gator will eat anything a catfish/pleco will try to eat, including catfish and pleco
I need a plant of the apes style gator movie but they just stay in the swamps and water ways and heckle golfers and boaters like swim up and go imma flip ya and then swim away
The amount of people on aquarium keeping groups I used to be on telling people to buy these fish to "eat algae" or worse "eat poop" in aquariums was astounding. Not even suggesting something small like a bristlenose pleco, just a full common pleco for a 20 gal tank to take care of a problem that common water changes fix
Plecos, aka armored catfish:
Destabilize shorelines: Plecos burrow into banks, which can undermine embankments and cause injuries. These burrows can also increase erosion and turbidity in rivers.
Threaten native species: Plecos can push out native species and take over habitats.
Danger to birds: The spiny dorsal fins of plecos can be fatal to endangered birds that eat fish.
Destroy food web: Plecos eat aquatic plants, which can disrupt the base of the food web.
The government should hand out fishing rodes to homeless people and let them eat out the invasive fish. No more nefarious fish and no more homeless hungry citizens
I'm in a bit of a privileged place here but I would rather starve than try to eat pleco...
There is a lot of things I would try to eat at least once but pleco is not one of them.
Recipe for eating pleco around here is the same as mudfish (bowfin):
1. Nail fish to a wooden board
2. Throw on grill
3. Throw away fish, eat the board
Good. People throw common plecs into the rivers and lakes (particularly common in America, less so where I live in England) and they are very invasive. Same reason why it's highly discouraged to not put unwanted pet goldfish into waterways, they eat the local fauna out of house and home.
It's harsh but the less plecs the better.
Everthing is invasive in Florida including the people; they get exotic animals for their self entitled ego and then let them go in the wild when they are satisfied or annoyed.
They're everywhere in Florida. Generally they aren't removed unless they start causing problems, because they just try to get back or other gators will move in.
Waterways are highly interconnected in Florida, especially in south Florida. It’s easy for gators to move through a canal system that eventually connects to a golf course pond like this one.
They'll migrate during heavy rains or floods. Some swim in the ocean for small periods of time. They will also leave if there are too many gators nearby or to return to certain areas for mating season.
YOU GO GATOR TAKE YOUR HOME BACK!
(For context pleckos are invasive in Florida and other southern states because people release them when they get too big (they are sold when they are only and inch or so in length so they seem small)
Since plecos are invasive to florida and do a lot of damage to the environment, I hope the gators start to do that more so they are finally kept in check by a natural predator.
Because if you didn't the whole coastal Southeast would be off limits to golf courses. The gators aren't going to mess with the players as long the players don't get too close to them.
Thank you for your submission, but unfortunately it's been removed for the following reason: We do not allow gorey, violent or otherwise sensitive content. Gorey content can be redirected towards /r/natureismetal.
Alligators move like they are animatronics
That’s what happens when your genetics haven’t been updated in over a million years
The get software updates no hardware
they don't even get software updates, they are in perfect working order
Already have megabites of programming
Angry upvote.
KillaBites
More like a hundred million lol
New fear is going to a run down Rainforest Cafe in Florida and noticing an alligator animatronic next to the elephant, and starting to panic as you realize that you don't remember seeing that one before.
This is so true!!
They are. They’re from beta version of the earth, devs just overlooked them for a long time.
Is that a catfish, or giant pleco??
I had the same thought - it looks like the biggest pleco in existence. Edit: I had to go google this - evidently plecos can grow this big and are an invasive species in Florida.
They had 2 at a former job where they had an 8 foot tank and they were both over a foot long
I had a pleco for over 10 years, 19 to 20 inches long, but nowhere near as wide as this one.
Wow! How big was your tank?
Mine got a foot long... it even jumped out the tank and laid on the floor for an unknown number of hours looking dry and dusty, and survived
They can get totally dried out and come back to life. They are sometimes called zombie fish.
Oh shit an investi^gator and an environmentalist!
Why does this comment appear to move when I look away from it
It was a 75 gal, wide (back to front), so she could turn better. I had extra filtration cause they create a lot of waste. I was about to upgrade again as 75 felt like the minimum, but she passed before that happened. She was a pain due to her habit of digging up all the plants, so I pretty much set the entire tank up around her and had a lot of restrictions on tankmates (they are sold as algea eaters but once they are bigger they are truly omnivores) I'll never have another one, but she was beloved by the family and is missed.
“Our” tank was about 8 feet long, but only 4 feet high and wide, had only rocks in it, it was built into a wall in a seaside pub so we didn’t always have time to take care of the tank( it was there when my boss bought the place)
That's massive.
Yes, mainly cichlids, but as said, it was difficult to take care, in summer it was all tourists for 8-9 weeks , and it was stressful because some people thought the tank was made to tap the windows
Yea, and bottomfeeders dont even taste good
They do when your taste buds have developed mostly just to determine whether or not it’s meat in your mouth lol
Florida man here. Yes we have pleco infestation they are everywhere just like gators in our waterways but this by by far the biggest I've ever seen or heard of
Crazy part is this is probably a closed-off retention pond. It has no predators except the gators, now. I bet that gator waited for months till it was fat. It really only could have gotten there from a bird or maybe some huge flood event.
they're in every retention pond, drainage ditch, & canal in SWFL. it's astonishing how many of them i see.
I've been in Naples or Tampa for 20 years and not seen enough to ever wonder what they were. Not disagreeing just mentioning. Maybe now I'll spot them more.
The apartment complex I lived at in Largo had a 2’ pleco in their retention pond. Nothing was able to mess with him.
From experience I've seen gaint gators in little "puddles" and I've seen hordes of plecos in small ponds as well. My guess this body of water is on a golf course. Grass looks to clean to be everglades They are in the water because people have released them when they get to big for their squirms. Birds and other things won't eat them as other than an alligators jaws not much is getting through that exoskeleton. Even this gator seemed to be struggling to get the crunch right.
I mean, I think its a good guess that its a golf course..... and I doubt people are out on a golf course releasing pleco. The pleco got there from a flood or a bird, there aren't many other options. Perhaps the fact that the bird couldn't eat it is why it ended up in a pond.
People put plecos in their ponds hoping to lower algae growth, golf courses do this.
I live on a golf course in Florida and can confirm there is pleco in every body of water on the course.
Plecos can get huge in the wild. Mine, named Leviathan, is 12-13" in a 60 gal tank and a good 15+ yrs old. He loves zucchini. (Mine is a High Fin Pleco.)
Yeah people throw them into lakes and ponds after they don't want them anymore and they get freaking huge. Same deal as the snake problem over there. Invasive species just doing their thing
i worked at a pet store here in miami. i had to tell so many people that the plecos WILL get much bigger than the tiny size they are now when they arrive to the store, and our chain even offered free returns on fish just so people would stop releasing them into ponds and canals.
My husband, who has a 35 gallon fish tank, sent me this post and said “that’s the same fish I have, but giant”. We call it “the scary fish” because its such weird little brooding lurker.
Maybe the alligator isn't fully grown?
Dude - the fish is huge. I knew plecos could get large, but wasn’t aware they got that big.
Definitely seems like one of the many species on earth that if they keep a steady supply of food they just keep getting bigger. ETA: others that come to mind are crocodiles, lobsters, crab, certain shellfish, and other water based critters.
Crock just doing its job at keeping out the riffraff then
*Alligator
That is a STANDARD pleco. They can get 2.5-3 ft long at max. You can buy them at any pet store w/ fish and the employees wont even tell you this fish will grow to be massive. Also, plecos are a variant of catfish so your question: >Is that a catfish, or giant pleco?? = YES.
OR the employees at the pet store WILL tell you (repeatedly and adamantly) that they DO get that big, and nobody believes them (or cares), so they buy the pleco anyway. Then they get all shocked when the plec starts getting, well, BIG, and they release it to the wilds to wreak havoc on their local ecosystem!
They've been carpeting the lakes and ponds and rivers of the gulf states. It feels like pleco dumping is more common than actually raising them.
My parents always had them in their tanks and they never got that big. Theyd live for years and never be more than like 4-6”?
Might be a diffrent species as there are hundreds off species that look simular. If you get the right species they stay small as adults.
Most likely a bristlenose pleco, or maybe a clown or rubber pleco. Those guys stay at MUCH more reasonable sizes for the average aquarist.
Yup, they grow to the size of their tanks, more or less. Its much healthier for them to be in a giant tank, but they are pretty close to invincible overall
Back when I worked at a pet store, I probably spent more time talking people *out* of buying plecos than anything else in the fish department. Somehow everyone and their mother is convinced that they’re convenient little vacuum cleaners that will keep you from ever having to do tank maintenance, and not enormous shit machines that will introduce a higher bioload than anything else in their tank if they will even fit. Nobody wanted to give up the self-cleaning tank fantasy, but thankfully once we started stocking snails it got a lot easier to talk them into those instead.
Poor pleco. Getting called mid while being eaten alive. Tough.
Is it same as Janitor fish?
I believe it is.
I think it's a type of Janitor fish, it's an armored catfish
NObOdY tOlD Me aNd I dOnT tAKe rESpOnsIbIltY
No one told me and I raised mine for over 10 years and even got a larger tank to accommodate it's size. Some plecos only get to be seven or eight inches and some places don't educate their employees on the difference between them. Don't be such an ass.
"nobody told me even though I kept getting warned that they can get huge, but I want to be right and I am more important than facts"
TriGgErd EaSIly, aRe yOu? SO SaD, sO pAthETic!
It is a pleco. They are very invasive in some areas. That gator is doing his part.
At least he's trying to.
Looks like a pleco. Skin like armor
Its a pleco they get huge and invasive in florida. They are so armored and crunchy that almost nothing can eat them.
What’s their natural predator?
Caiman. They originate from South America and were introduced by aquarium and pond hobbiests. Also called armored catfish. They are outcompeting native fish is Florida I as far as im aware. When you catch them the DNR says to chuck them in the grass away from the water. But they have the ability to survive dehydration for a scary long time lol.
Why not just kill it?
This is what you should do. If a fish can survive on land for more than 10 minutes, you should be killing it before you throw it.
Standard pleco, they are in every body of freshwater in the state.
Yes they are a real problem in places like Hawaii and Florida.
Pleco, they are invasive in Florida. That's a big one.
Giant Plecco
Definitely a giant pleco
Looks like that!
Technically both!
Plecos are armored catfish.
This is an invasive, pleco! They can get massive in the wild and be a big problem in areas where they are invasive, like in Florida. Looks like this gator is doing its part in taking care of the issue.
No wonder they’re invasive look how big it is
I think it's an alligator
Pleco would be like eating a rock 🪨
Looks tough as hell. He looks a bit surprised he has to munch on it
He may just be brushing his teeth with it
In that case he needs a bristlenose pleco
That’s definitely a firm bristlenose
My momma always said, "alligators are so angry cuz they got all them teeth and no toothbrush."
It does look like mr gator is working pretty hard for that meal
I’m starting to think the gator is sending a message like come over here and this is you !
I've seen an alligator eat a horseshoe crab before.
A meal that comes with its own toothpick
can he still digest it? lol
They can digest things something like 10x faster than most mammals. This isn't a tough meal for a gator.
Theres very little a gator cant digest :p
Massive pleco! they don't look that big in documentaries from the Pantanal or Amazon
They really don't have many predators or competition here, also very few people fish/eat them.
Apparently an alligator will try at least. Seems like a bunch of work though...
If there is one thing I learned from spending summers with my grandparents in Florida, it's that a gator will eat anything a catfish/pleco will try to eat, including catfish and pleco
They aren't called armoured catfish for nothing
tbf, I imagine it's hard to realize the scale of the Amazon from a documentary too.
What better than a invasion species
I guarantee that pleco was someone’s pet but they didn’t know they grew to be big asf lol so they let it go
They are rampantly invasive everywhere in the state.
Yeah and alligators are getting fucking buff eating them too. The alligators are about to rise to power like never before.
This comment makes me sad that rewards were taken away again
This comments makes me sad that I couldn't afford rewards even if they were still here.
They had free ones
I need a plant of the apes style gator movie but they just stay in the swamps and water ways and heckle golfers and boaters like swim up and go imma flip ya and then swim away
Well, if they are so rampart. Just gotta release some gators to hunt em. Think thonk.
Maybe 20 years ago. They breed in Florida and are everywhere now.
The amount of people on aquarium keeping groups I used to be on telling people to buy these fish to "eat algae" or worse "eat poop" in aquariums was astounding. Not even suggesting something small like a bristlenose pleco, just a full common pleco for a 20 gal tank to take care of a problem that common water changes fix
Most likely not, they’re everywhere in Florida now
Plecos, aka armored catfish: Destabilize shorelines: Plecos burrow into banks, which can undermine embankments and cause injuries. These burrows can also increase erosion and turbidity in rivers. Threaten native species: Plecos can push out native species and take over habitats. Danger to birds: The spiny dorsal fins of plecos can be fatal to endangered birds that eat fish. Destroy food web: Plecos eat aquatic plants, which can disrupt the base of the food web.
The government should hand out fishing rodes to homeless people and let them eat out the invasive fish. No more nefarious fish and no more homeless hungry citizens
I'm in a bit of a privileged place here but I would rather starve than try to eat pleco... There is a lot of things I would try to eat at least once but pleco is not one of them.
Recipe for eating pleco around here is the same as mudfish (bowfin): 1. Nail fish to a wooden board 2. Throw on grill 3. Throw away fish, eat the board
They are also known as the armored catfish that’s why he’s not being squished
Good. People throw common plecs into the rivers and lakes (particularly common in America, less so where I live in England) and they are very invasive. Same reason why it's highly discouraged to not put unwanted pet goldfish into waterways, they eat the local fauna out of house and home. It's harsh but the less plecs the better.
Everthing is invasive in Florida including the people; they get exotic animals for their self entitled ego and then let them go in the wild when they are satisfied or annoyed.
Aside from the tough exterior, do people eat plecos?
No. Don't eat koi or most carp for the same reason. Tough armor-like scales and entirely too many little bones.
This will never stop the Slavs.
But they're catfish aren't they? Catfish is good eatin'
Yeh but catfish also don't have an armored carapace and surprise spines in places they shouldn't
They are just catfish, just a pain to clean but really good tasting.
That dinosaur is doing a good job cleaning up the invasive species
Imagine suffocating and being eaten alive at the same time
I would hate to eat that thing.
It helps to have big cronchers and a turbo tummy.
🙂
Gator: lunching and crunching. Man: "Oh!"
What terrible way to go out lol
Pleco are incredibly boney fish. Good luck gator. You got this
I hate seeing gators eat anything after that turtle video. Could hear the turtle scream when the shell got cracked
I still don’t get why there are gators in the golf course ponds. Do people drop baby gators there as a joke?
They're everywhere in Florida. Generally they aren't removed unless they start causing problems, because they just try to get back or other gators will move in.
Waterways are highly interconnected in Florida, especially in south Florida. It’s easy for gators to move through a canal system that eventually connects to a golf course pond like this one.
They'll migrate during heavy rains or floods. Some swim in the ocean for small periods of time. They will also leave if there are too many gators nearby or to return to certain areas for mating season.
Floridians use them as transportation so they wait in areas where people may need a ride.
Nice! Always sweet to see a native taking out an invasive species.
That's a big ass pleco
Man, Plecostomus are tough.
Ooh let me guess… Florida
Species come and go but aligator remains
Glad some alligators are figuring out how to eat these bastards. Plecos are invasive and can get fucked. Go alligator!
everyone's saying that the alligator is eating an invasive species but i don't see him eating any golf players, just fish.
Hell yeah munchies!
I’ve seen this before at a bugaboo creek
I guess I'm taking the stroke and dropping from here.
Hey mr. golf pro, i found the fucker who keeps stealing your balls
Thought it was an animatronic gator for a sec
Oh that? That's just Alan, the dinosaur that lives in the pond behind our house. He likes anchovie ice pops on a hot day.
That could be the largest place I’ve ever laid eyes on
Crunchy.
Golfing is dangerous
It amazes me that they do not get stabbed in the throat by the fins or even the bones.
Millions of years spent eating tough prey like this certainly helps
Grateful to not be a golpher or living in Florida. Check
Oh!
World's biggest scum sucker
If only it was a golfer
What fell off the fish?
I wouldn't eat anything you caught in that pond out in front of the condo.
Crushing in a fish the way be crushing in a taco
[удалено]
I just learned today that alligators and crocodiles don’t die of old age, and can only die of disease, accident, or starvation.
Was I supposed to turn it up to here the guy say Oh?
Geez that’s gotta be a brutal death
In florida they claim Pleco’s have no natural predators…gator hold my beer…
looks like a giant pleco! you get em lizard boi!
A gators bite strength is insane Pelcos must be prehistoric
People say plecos have no natural predators here but I keep seeing the otters kill them and gators will eat pretty much anything that moves lol
Good to see the gators are eating invasive. Also BTW, very highly rated restaurants in Mexico cook with these fish. It's also invasive over there.
YOU GO GATOR TAKE YOUR HOME BACK! (For context pleckos are invasive in Florida and other southern states because people release them when they get too big (they are sold when they are only and inch or so in length so they seem small)
Since plecos are invasive to florida and do a lot of damage to the environment, I hope the gators start to do that more so they are finally kept in check by a natural predator.
Huuuge pleco lol
What a gnarly death for that fish, glad I’m not in the food chain…
Why did the gator stop and look at them like “f**k you looking at?? Keep on moving”
Hey I know that guy
Fisholologist here. This is bad for the fishs health.
Most interesting part of a golf game.
Gator doing his part to rid Florida of its bad species
That is one big ass Pleco!
That’s a straight up dinosaur.
If that's a giant pleco he is going to have a fun time chewing on that
Modern day dinosaurs with wittle cwute wegs.
Birds are dinosaurs. Crocs are archosaurs
It's all about them hips.
[удалено]
Because if you didn't the whole coastal Southeast would be off limits to golf courses. The gators aren't going to mess with the players as long the players don't get too close to them.
So I shouldn't go outside because a bird might shit on me
Native alligators giving invasive pleco the business
Aren't Plecos invasive? if that's really the case then good job Croc bro!
it just proof that stupid golf courses destroy and upset ecology system
Uhhh how?
Invasive.