Hey guys, i mentiond buying a new pleco recently, a fully matured male BN at about 6'' long.
I've now had him 2 weeks in a 35g on his own with no substrate, 3 big pieces of driftwood which make up his cave/mountain. tank has a turnover rate of approx 6 and temps kept at a constant 26 degrees c.
In the time i've had him he has been alot more like the bristlenoses the rest of the world claim to have, in the sense he is very shy and nocturnal for the most part; where as my 2 smaller BNS in my 10G (they're about 3'' long each, maybe just a bit smaller) are swimming about all day in search of food.
Now the point to this thread; i knew the new guy had been eating but i had never managed to see him doing it. I feed my plecos on a diet of zucchini primarily, with cucumber and live foods mixed in on occassion. He works his way through a 1 1/2'' piece of zuccini in a single night with ease.
Last night i caught him eating during the day, the plecos tend to be more active during the day after having live foods recently. I blanched the veg as normal, and dropped it in the tank and he darted out of his cave and literally smashed straight through it sending it spiralling to the opposite end of the tank. Where he darted and with the grace and style of an italian footballer dribbled the food back into his cave. Occasionally headbutting it out and doing the same over and over.
Woke up this morning and there was quite a bit of zuccini scattered around the tank (no surprise). But there was more then i expected in all honesty - is this normal behaviour ?
I've now had him 2 weeks in a 35g on his own with no substrate, 3 big pieces of driftwood which make up his cave/mountain. tank has a turnover rate of approx 6 and temps kept at a constant 26 degrees c.
In the time i've had him he has been alot more like the bristlenoses the rest of the world claim to have, in the sense he is very shy and nocturnal for the most part; where as my 2 smaller BNS in my 10G (they're about 3'' long each, maybe just a bit smaller) are swimming about all day in search of food.
Now the point to this thread; i knew the new guy had been eating but i had never managed to see him doing it. I feed my plecos on a diet of zucchini primarily, with cucumber and live foods mixed in on occassion. He works his way through a 1 1/2'' piece of zuccini in a single night with ease.
Last night i caught him eating during the day, the plecos tend to be more active during the day after having live foods recently. I blanched the veg as normal, and dropped it in the tank and he darted out of his cave and literally smashed straight through it sending it spiralling to the opposite end of the tank. Where he darted and with the grace and style of an italian footballer dribbled the food back into his cave. Occasionally headbutting it out and doing the same over and over.
Woke up this morning and there was quite a bit of zuccini scattered around the tank (no surprise). But there was more then i expected in all honesty - is this normal behaviour ?
