pleco diet

[AlaskaJammin]

I have a royal pleco and a scarlet pleco, and they both seem to love raw potato. Anyone else have any experience with this at all? Or do ya know if its good for them? seems alright to me

[Oddball]

My royal love potato. He eats 4 halves a week. He also goes for sinking catfish pellets, earthworm sticks, kiwi halves, bloodworms, frozen peas, and fish fillets. Make sure you keep some driftwood in the tank for your royal to chew on. They get nutrients from the bacteria that lives on the wood's surface. My royal grinds down over 50lbs of wood a year.
The pic is a little over a year old and taken when he was a mere 18".

[AlaskaJammin]

That is a sweet pleco dude. Yeah he loves the potato, and I have about 75 lbs of mopani boglog and malaysian driftwood in there. Thanks for the picture and advice, they both love sinking cichlid pellets to.

[Tucc185]

Gotta love the royal plecos! For mine, I usualy drop in some sheets of dried seaweed twice a week (attached to a rock w/ elastic to keep it from floating) and the plec's go nuts for it. They always look pot-bellied afterwards.

[AlaskaJammin]

That a good idea to, I will have to try it. I found out one of mine really loves green apples. Go figure.....

[reefman]

i give my royal a half of a cucumber

[AlaskaJammin]

Cucumber huh? I will give it a shot.

[reefman]

my royal fights my gibbiceps over it

[AlaskaJammin]

Sweet now I just have to find something my scarlet goes nuts for

[AlaskaJammin]

Scarlet loves cooked chicken, go figure.

[Waldo]

The simbiotic bacteria in the Royals stomach needs starchy foods to live. Potatoes and driftwood are a great idea. I beleive as mentioned above your scarlet is an omnivorous pleco eating both meat and vegitation.