I just play it safe and feed them everything. Algae wafers, massivore pellets, bloodworms, cucumbers, and there is plenty of wood. Lol
Can Plecos Digest Wood?
- Thread starter RD.
- Start date
I would be wary of assuming that plecos could adapt as readily. I'm not an evolutionary biologist, but I believe rift lake cichlids exhibit some of the most plasticity of any type of fish. The african rift lakes are much younger, geologically speaking, than the Amazon which is older and more stable; thus, in addition to the diversity of microhabitats, many rift lake cichlids (e.g. tropheus) are more readily able to adapt to dietary changes.
Furthermore, some of the plecos purchased are sub-adults or near adults, so their digestive systems may not be able to adapt to changes in diet such as the tropheus mentioned.
Good point Linus, and I agree. I wasn't suggesting that plecos are hard wired the same as cichlid fish found in Lake Tanganyika, more that I am wary about the feeding classifications that are assigned by ichthyologists, and perhaps more so, how those classifications should be viewed by hobbyists.
The study that involved a number of species of fish found in Lake Tanganyika (not just tropheus sp.) was simply a single example of how easily classifications can be and IME over the years often are confusing to many hobbyists.
Having said all that I would certainly never suggest feeding a panaque nothing but a diet high in protein and/or fatty acids, and would always recommend that ones pellets/wafers should have a reasonable inclusion rate of fiber, and aquatic plant matter such as various algae, no matter the genus or species of pleco being fed.
HTH
The study that involved a number of species of fish found in Lake Tanganyika (not just tropheus sp.) was simply a single example of how easily classifications can be and IME over the years often are confusing to many hobbyists.
Having said all that I would certainly never suggest feeding a panaque nothing but a diet high in protein and/or fatty acids, and would always recommend that ones pellets/wafers should have a reasonable inclusion rate of fiber, and aquatic plant matter such as various algae, no matter the genus or species of pleco being fed.
HTH
I think they can adapt when there's no wood- My melon is my pond munching on algae for awhile:
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I read the article, and skimmed the pdf. I am thinking that while he says that they don't gain nutrition from the wood, it may help them with digrstion or something. He also infers that they would be rather unhappy without wood. So I think what I come away with from this is that they need to be fed things besides wood, not instead of wood.
Not exactly. Panaques etc do not require wood as part of their diet, in fact while they eat it, for the most part they do not digest it. As I stated in the first sentence of this thread, they eat it as a secondary action when scraping the biofilm that grows on the wood. It's not the wood, it's what's on the wood. In the wild it is a niche where plecos have eked out an existence, but when kept in the confines of a glass box they require real nutrition, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals etc, just like any other fish. They will not get those nutrients from sucking on a piece of driftwood in someone's tank.
It's certainly all good keeping wood in pleco tanks and allowing them the opportunity to chew to their hearts content, but from a nutritional stand point it is not a necessity, where real nutrients, like those found in commercial food, are. Without those nutrients your pleco will die from malnutrition.
It's certainly all good keeping wood in pleco tanks and allowing them the opportunity to chew to their hearts content, but from a nutritional stand point it is not a necessity, where real nutrients, like those found in commercial food, are. Without those nutrients your pleco will die from malnutrition.
