L190 refusing all but the wood. Poop question also.

[knifegill]

I know the debate rages on, can panaques live on wood or not, yadda yadda. Well, my little L190 is just eating the old fruit tree roots in his tank, and refuses to eat pellets or vegetables that I can tell. All the poop in his area is just solid wood. Perhaps in time he will accept the asparagus and carrots, and NLS pellets, but for now he's kind of supporting my side of the argument that panaques can, indeed, live on wood alone for the most part. Anybody else keeping panaque on wood alone, or have fish that choose it over other foods? Softwoods, of course. They can't really eat Mopani, etc.


Speaking of wood poop, has anyone checked to see if it raises nitrates as quickly as "normal" fish poop? I'd strongly suspect that it's going to decompose a LOT slower, and pose less of a threat than some might assert. Thoughts?

 

[thefredpit]

my L190 only eats wood and the skin of cucumbers

 

[Linus_Cello]

If you have some extra wood, put it in a container with water outside to grow some algae and aufwuch and put it in the tank a few weeks later.

 

[knifegill]

I have kids, they would just destroy it.

 

[stuby]

Mine eat everything I put in the tank....... Algae wafers, Pellet foods, Flake food, zucchini, and of course wood. They are the first ones to come out to eat and tend to not hide as much as the L14's I have them with. Just leave the lights on extra if you can...... even if you don't see it grow this should add some algae to the tank.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Speaking of wood poop, has anyone checked to see if it raises nitrates as quickly as "normal" fish poop? I'd strongly suspect that it's going to decompose a LOT slower, and pose less of a threat than some might assert. Thoughts?

The net dry weight of the nitrogen in typical packaged fish foods is 5-6% (assuming 35% protein x the average of 16% nitrogen content in protein.) It's much higher in raw meaty foods like shrimp, cod, etc.

Woods vary, but I found net dry weight measures for nitrogen to be 0.1% to 0.2% for wood, so, that's less than 2% of the content in foods. (see table 3)
http://marioloureiro.net/ciencia/ignicao_vegt/ragla91a.pdf

Wood should have minimal impact on nitrates regardless of decomposition rates. One ounce of fish food is comparable to 3 pounds of wood.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Hi there buddy have you ever tried Vitalis Plec pellets 8mm? I've never had a Pleco refuse them, given time obviously, honesty buddy I swear by them as to all the top aquatic shops in the UK, they are expensive to be fair £13-£14 pounds Uk maybe a little under $20 dollers USA for a 300g tub, but some L numbers cost a small fortune so it would be silly to feed them anything but the best in my opinion, thinking about it I'm not sure if their available in the USA defo worth a try if you can get them.

 

[monkeybike]

Have you tried zucchini and sweet potato ?

 

[matubula]

I agree with what's already been suggested, and would add melon rind is popular with mine. I'd suggest keep trying with the other foods as well, it could be that the little guy has to learn what it can eat.

 

[knifegill]

I'm going to try ALL these ideas, thanks!

Good to know about the sawdust poo being super low in nitrogen. I won't freak out as much and frantically vacuum out my tank every single day, ha ha.