Some say he's still down there to this day, trying to catch plecos by hand

I bought one in 1996 and put it in a 55 gallon fish tank. It is 2021 and the MF'er is STILL alive and the only reason I have the damn tank is because he is the only fish left in it.

I can't even catch the pleco in my aquarium, no idea how this guy is gonna grab them by hand.

0:32 Look at all those chickens

"Divers are attempting to contain these fish." *contains zero fish

The lake is under stocked you could fit at least 12 more Plecos.

Hey friendly reminder that you shouldnt buy any animal, even a goldfish, without doing your research 🙃 They may need more space and care than you think

In The Caribbean we in Trinidad and Tobago use them as food ,catch clean like any other fish and rub them against a rock till they turn white because they have an armor .Then put some oil,curry seasoning like onions ,garlic ,pepper and curry them with rice or dumplings,they must be well washed with lime or lemon first they taste great .

Yup, those are common pleco. They're a native species here in Brazil. My advice, fish them using line and hook or arpoon, since they're bottom dwellers a net won't work, but a fish trap with vegetables inside might work well. You can eat them, the meat is good, so encouraging ppl to fish them would be a start to fight the invasion.

Shit. Supply me with beer, and a no limit fishing lisence. Might a take few days, but I'll get em out for ya. I wont eat em, but man I like fishing, and beer.

Legend say the guy still catching those fish by hand

Don’t talk about my family like that

20,000 pleco’s 11 failed attempts to catch 1 by hand That is indeed an uphill battle 😆

Give people 50 cents for every pleco they catch they will extinct within a week

Sounds like the makings of an annual cat fish fry festival to me.

There's this thing called a "net"...

I believe I’ve just watched Steve Poland’s next viral video!! Well done my friend, what a great way to raise awareness!!!

Last time I was at Blue Springs, the park ranger told me they had recently caught around 600 plecos in one day.

I live about 15 minutes from Blue Spring and I have seen those plecos in the spring.

Kind of rolling my eyes at all the people going "well we should just fish them until they are all gone!" As if no one has ever thought of that and they are being super clever. We wouldnt have any invasive species if getting rid of them was that simple.

I agree with whoever said to pay 50 cents for each one caught.

I have grown up in this area and have gone to blue springs my entire life. I often snorkel with these giant schools of pleco. They have no natural predators and are multiplying at an exponential rate. I have seen this phenomenon at almost every spring I have been to in Florida - they have completely invaded Ocala national forest which has many many springs like blue springs. I have also seen schools of giant pacu and several species of cichlids in these waters - it’s heartbreaking

All the OG Pokémon peeps have “gotta catch em all” playing in their head. At least I do 😆

Cool aquarium Bro!

Those big ones can be sold 50$ each

We had this problem in a local lake, people just started taking them out with nets, drying them and using them as plant fertilizer

I started going to this spring back in the late 70s. You never saw one of these fish until about 20 years ago, after that they started multiplying like crazy. It was heartbreaking to see them completely take over

I lived in the Amazon for 6 months and, in my experience, armored algae eaters like this were among the very tastiest fish I encountered. Would definitely recommend having them in stew or grilled in their shell. Get eating!!

I collected thousands of plecos from South Florida canals over the years..sold each one for between $5 (wholesale) and $25 (retail) very easy to catch in clear water with snorkel gear and a net. In only 3 to 4 hours, I typically would catch 20 to 30 every time..then a quick 15 minute drive to sell them at local fish farm/koi pond business. I'm amazed more people aren't doing it. The $$ was good, great exercise, enjoyable, no boss, and get paid in cash tax free !

That is an INSANE number of Plecos 😨😨😨

It's looking like the fish we have on Brasil, very popular we call cascudo and delicius meat fish and I like make a dish called moqueca witch is fish stew!

When you own a pleco 😳😳

Steve thank you so much for making this video! I'm going to pass it along to some of my colleagues who talk about invasive species.

Florida should start a pet food and fertilizer business. Dog, fish, reptile and cat foods based with invasive animals such as pleco catfish and python snakes. This would generate money as well as get the public involved in the capture if a payment plan was established.

Even flowerhorns get afraid while watching pleco

These fish are extremely adorable

Legend has it, that man is still in those waters chasing Plecos...not yet caught a single one....

Wow. I didn't know they were overpopulating like that! That was nuts! Those manatees don't stand a chance.

Thank you for making this known

They're in the San Marcos river in San Marcos as well. Cool river in central Texas with fast flowing crystal clear water. Lot of endangered species in it that live only in that river system. Not sure if the plecos are that prevalent in it though. I've snorkeled there and have seen some huge ones.

Watching you try to catch one and failing every time was the most unsatisfying thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It hurts.

In the Amazon, there are some chefs who have learned to use the Pleco's eggs as a delicious substitute for Caviar. Maybe the solution is to create a market for the product and farm them to keep their numbers in check or exterminate them. If we can't beat them, Eat them.

The most terrifying thing about this fish is they are out side of the food chain. Over populated pleco can disturb the balance of the ecosystem.

The chad pleco suckerfish vs the virgin diver. No contest.

My family has taken in a few large plecos as rescues over the years. Some have been stunted through having a tank that was too small. They do make good aquarium pets, provided you have a tank that's big enough. We currently only have one. Big Bad Barry. If we hold a cucumber in the water, he will come and eat it from our hands. Edit: I strongly urge you not to get one as a pet unless you have at least 100 litres per fish, as they grow very large.

They should have all the flordia fisherman have a throwing net competition to see who can bag most plecos by weight.

Cool video

Fishkeepers: *it's free real estate*

These things are actually caught and eaten (usually curried) in Trinidad and Tobago. Seriously. A shoal like this would legit be enough to feed a village. The snouts and find are cut off and the fish gets gutted. After there it's seasoned to taste and dropped in a pot - usually served with rice and dhal. I personally don't eat it because these things creep me TF out but for some people it's delicious.

If only they were zebra plecos 🤔

Whatever ! The underwater video is awsome satisfying. Otherworldly

Dynamite Pleco fishing when? C'MON FLORIDA MAN!

Thanks for showing insight on this, and its not just here everywhere in florida with all kinds of fish, peacock bass, Oscars, pacu, red tail cats and their hybreeds.

Very frustrating situation. Hopefully this gets taken care of soon. Thanks for posting.

I've been dying to visit this place, beautiful area..

The guy that released the first mating pair right now🙄

I used to study the water quality of Florida's springs. It's insane how fast these fish have taken over. The only spring fed River in northern Florida I have seen that has not yet been infested is Rainbow Springs in Dunnellon, FL. They're thriving off of the explosion of algae in the water which has been caused by fertilizers getting into the aquifer. It's only going to get worse.

Thank you for sharing this Steve. I shared it. I wish everyone was aware of the harm releasing fish into the wild can cause.

Cute . Lots of stickies

I was there, diving, a few years ago, fantastic location, did not see one single Pleco, darn that hurts to see this place ruined like this, it is impossible to solve, no matter how good and effective you think you could create nets and traps, you still overlook at least a few, and then bingo, back in trouble a few years later

Sell them to pet stores around the country, they are in high demand. They sell for around $20 in Colorado for that size. You'll be so rich if you sold them for $5.

I suggest the diver uses a net next time

LOOK AT ALL THOSE PLECOS OH MAN

so beautiful place

Screw raising awareness, its seems to me that a coordinated effort of divers with nets could put a huge dent in their population immediately. People like to photograph or film issues, but no one wants to DO anything about them!!! We have become a society of voyeurs...

This is happening here in South Florida with the Pacu

No wonder the water is so crystal clear

I was kayaking down there and saw the same exact sign... soooo many plecos!

Very informative video, thanku for sharing with us..

It’s always shocking how much of an impact a few idiots can do to the planet.

I need to go there and get some for my 520-gallon tank project, those are probably titan plecos or maybe royal plecos idk for sure tho.

Same here in Bangladesh. This Foul fishes has been invaded 2 big rivers of Bangladesh. These fish eats other small fishes, Fish eggs and Larva. Nothing smaller then its mouth size is safe from its attack. Now our local species are in danger of extinction. And the way this fishes reproduce themselves is terrifying.

They’re in Houston and south Texas too

Great video steve. This video is gonna go huge and I hope it does because SO MANY people do this and are clueless to the butterfly effect they are creating

This type of fish is unbelievable. I did an unintentional experiment years ago. I was changing water of my fish tank and I had a pleco fish about 6 inch long. I put all my fishes in a bucket and placed the pleco in a small tank separately. The small tank had nearly no room for the pleco to swim. I placed the bucket and the small tank at the balcony. I took the bucket of fishes back to the fish tank after I changed the tank water. But forgot about the pleco. The pleco was left in a small tank at the balcony for a month. Given there were rainy days and sunny days in that month. One day I went to the balcony to pick up something and I saw the pleco. It was very much alive and well.

I was snorkeling there with my kids over the summer and I thought it looked just like our pleco but bigger we saw a few of them definitely didn't see that many of them but wow I knew it was plecos! What a bummer people do this. Don't be lazy folks rehome your unwanted animals and creatures!

Forget Petco and PetSmart, I’m coming here to get me some plecos

Yep, I used to have some of these in my aquarium years ago they are one tuff amazonian catfish with armor they are tuffer than a box of nails.

These fish are literally sold at my local fish at that size for 75$ there’s like 10,000 bucks swimming there!

looks like they were dressed in black plate armour.

The situation is out of hand here in Florida... :(

Although they are invasive and destroying the ecosystem there is something beautiful about them all schooling together

Pythons, Boas, Monkeys, Monitor Lizards, Giant African Land Snails, Geckos, Iguanas, Knife Fish, Lion Fish....and now Plecos. Florida has basically become Jurassic Park after the power went out.

plecos are so cute I love them but we definitely need to put a stop to that invasion if it isn't over yet

Quite a few years ago my son and I went fishing in Bradley woods in Westlake Ohio and we usually would just catch blue gill and catfish and release them. One time he got a bite and starting reading in his line and a huge goldfish was on his pole. Probably a tiny guy someone won at a fair and let go there. Bad idea. Thanks for showing this and making people aware of what a horrible idea this is.

Put them on the menu

I used to go there all the time back in the 80's.

This looks like one of my dreams I love suckerfish they're so cute :)

we just need to net fish them, then grind them into fertilizer.

That’s intense! I’ve never seen anything like this , it’s so sad to see this happening. The carelessness of some people is ultimately threatening certain species 🙁 thank you for sharing

Let me bring a pole spear into the spring and I will remove all of the plecos.

All snow king too wow

Omg there’s thousands and thousands of them and they are pleco’s..!!!!! I have one in my 55 gallon aquarium and that’s where he’s gonna stay..!!!

legend is the dude is tryin to grab those cat fish to this day

The adorable Invasion

Its like zombie apocalypse but pleco apocalypse

What frustrates me is that pet store like Petco and Petsmart aren't called out for selling these fish and misinforming customers about how big they get and that they're not even the best algae eater. Customers buy these fish being told that they'll stay small only to end up with a foot long fish in their 30 gal. tank. They feel bad and think the best move is to let them go not knowing they can find fish trading programs or sell them. Or they think that's too much work. I believe Petco and Petsmart are the huge part of invasive species being a problem. If they made it mandatory to test/educate employees on the animals they keep and to actual educate buyers about the animals their selling we could take a step closer to getting to the root of the problem. Pets would be in better home environments, live longer and they wouldn't be abused due to negligence perpetuated by the pet stores.

In my homeland, they have economical value. Their meats can be the ingredient of some delicacies like "otak-otak", "somay" or "cilok". Maybe you can send them to my place. lol 🤣🤣 🤣🤣

I love this I love places I have 2 of my own there names are Tony and frank one common one is a rubberlip

i have been there and seen them, there is some really good fishing just outside the river enterance