My tank is now starting algae growth and i have purchased a pretty good sized pleco, about 9 inches, and he has appeared to clean up my 125 gal in a flash. I have bought some algae wafers for him and was wondering about how many of these to drop in for him at night. they are approximatley about the size of a dime.The directions are pretty vague.Thanks
? on feeding pleco
- Thread starter beerad555
- Start date
I would throw in 4 or 5 and see whats left in the morning. if anything is left then reduce until you get none or little waste left in the morning. the problem with night feeding is that if you have greedy fish that like algae wafers then the pleco may get little or even none.
you can try feeding through the day too to see if it will take food in the day. i had a bristlenose who would eat whenevr it was available so its worth a try, that way you can monitor its eating habits easily. try and tempt it by dropping them right next to it.
remember to drop in extra stuff like blanched courgette, cucumber and romaine lettuce. i think some feed potato and pumpkin to their plecos as well. depending on the type of pleco it may also be worth doing extra regular pellets that the other fish get, frozen bloodworm and raw prawn/squid.
you can try feeding through the day too to see if it will take food in the day. i had a bristlenose who would eat whenevr it was available so its worth a try, that way you can monitor its eating habits easily. try and tempt it by dropping them right next to it.
remember to drop in extra stuff like blanched courgette, cucumber and romaine lettuce. i think some feed potato and pumpkin to their plecos as well. depending on the type of pleco it may also be worth doing extra regular pellets that the other fish get, frozen bloodworm and raw prawn/squid.
You start to feed that pleco regularly and he will stop cleaning the algae. Feed twice a week...something that sinks, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, blanched veggies. A pleco is opportunistic and will eat just about anything but they can get picky.
I have a common pleco that has kept my tank clean. He's about 7 inches now. He was 4 inches when I got him.
There is not much algae for him to eat anymore, so he eats shrimp pellets.
We drop some in, let him eat, and then we drop more in and he then lets the loaches eat.
I am looking to get rid of him, as he's getting a little large for my 75 gallon, and I would like to get some smaller plecos like the royal pleco etc.
There is not much algae for him to eat anymore, so he eats shrimp pellets.
We drop some in, let him eat, and then we drop more in and he then lets the loaches eat.
I am looking to get rid of him, as he's getting a little large for my 75 gallon, and I would like to get some smaller plecos like the royal pleco etc.
plecos need regular feeding just like any fish you may keep. they cannot survive properly on algae, scavenging and the occasional feeding.
to get the best info i suggest you visit the pleco forum http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=123 and also speak to davo (one of the mods here) http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/member.php?u=6004
that way you will ensure your pleco gets the best care possible like you would any other fish.
to get the best info i suggest you visit the pleco forum http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=123 and also speak to davo (one of the mods here) http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/member.php?u=6004
that way you will ensure your pleco gets the best care possible like you would any other fish.
I think most people would suggest feeding plecos vegetables. I prefer vegetables over algae wafers because my other fish seem to get to the wafers before the plecos. They don't care for the vegetables though. I stick some cucumbers or zucchini and sometimes asparagus every night. Sometimes I leave the zucchini in for 2 days before I take it out because they get through that slower. They go crazy over asparagus and cucumbers get eaten pretty quickly too. You should check out the pleco dietary thread to see what people have success with.
I use a stainless steel fork and I just stick it through it. Some people say that forks are dangerous to fish though so you might wanna be careful. I'm planning to use spoons or butter knives eventually. There's also something called a screwcumber. You can look into that. People also use rubber bands to tie the veggies onto rocks.