pleco problems

[mikebratcher69]

Do you have a heater in your tank ? all my fish plec's blue lobsters grow at a mad rate in my tank. I also feed them anything they will eat, mine especialy likes chicken cooked of course with a little seasoning!! They are quite spoiled I think. Try all different foods, take away the uneaten in the morning, I feed mine at night as they seem more active once the lights go out.

 

[TwistedPenguin]

thanks for the suggestions. its a Leopard cactus pleco

I've got one of those also. Extremely shy. About the only time I see him is when I pull his log up to make sure he's ok. I've had mine......9 mo? or so? He's only grown in length less than an inch but he's gotten chunkier (thankfully) so I know he's eating. Although I've never once seen him eat. These Plecs are known to be pretty shy. I just keep putting meaty foods in there and drop them right into his hiding place around 10 PM before I go to bed. He's obviously eating judging by his girth.

Do you have a heater in your tank ? all my fish plec's blue lobsters grow at a mad rate in my tank. I also feed them anything they will eat, mine especialy likes chicken cooked of course with a little seasoning!! They are quite spoiled I think. Try all different foods, take away the uneaten in the morning, I feed mine at night as they seem more active once the lights go out.

Chicken with or without seasoning is not a good choice for fish. They can't digest fowl or mammal meat properly. Think of what they'd find to eat in the wild and feed it. Snail meat, crayfish meat, bloodworms, mussles, etc. All the better if you can get him to eat some sort of veggies, too. Because the meat carnivores eat in the wild is filled with plant material and that's how they get their greens in the wild. In our tanks we have to come up with ways to get the greens into them.

 

[Jackson]

Chicken with or without seasoning is not a good choice for fish. They can't digest fowl or mammal meat properly. Think of what they'd find to eat in the wild and feed it. Snail meat, crayfish meat, bloodworms, mussles, etc. All the better if you can get him to eat some sort of veggies, too. Because the meat carnivores eat in the wild is filled with plant material and that's how they get their greens in the wild. In our tanks we have to come up with ways to get the greens into them.

On top of that you can end up with some nasty disease floating around in your tank that can be passed on to you if the tank is not cleaned properly. It is just mot worth it for you or the fish.

 

[Allan01230]

I have three of these my largest at 9 inches,. When feeding carnivorous plecs the main thing is the type of protein. Thats why I like NLS. It is made from herring and krill the two easiest proteins for fish to digest. Also the added vitamins and plant protein in this food. I feed this along with tetraminn color bits and that is it. I throw a piece of zucchini or cucumber in once a week. My LFS has a guy there that breeds many types of plecos and he told me of this formula with the carnivorous plecs.. He also has a pair of L-25 scarlet plecos that he is trying to breed and has been feeding them the stuff

 

[Allan01230]

Sorry my bulldog hit the keyboard! As I was saying he has had the L-25's for years and they are in perfect health. Market shrimp doesn't have all that much in it as I was told by a biologist but many people with plecos on here seem to have good luck with it. I guess see what your plecos will eat and go from there. Keep us posted.

 

[Neervana]

Do you have a heater in your tank ? all my fish plec's blue lobsters grow at a mad rate in my tank. I also feed them anything they will eat, mine especialy likes chicken cooked of course with a little seasoning!! They are quite spoiled I think. Try all different foods, take away the uneaten in the morning, I feed mine at night as they seem more active once the lights go out.

is that a joke? chicken... that is not good for a fish... and certainly not for a plec.. lol.. it should be fresh veggies, bloodworms/prawns/algae pellets and bits of white fish (raw) do the trick nicely too..

 

[mikebratcher69]

 

[mikebratcher69]

Do you all live your lives like you were in the wild? Do you all run around naked eating fruit nuts berries with the occasional bit of raw meat? No I don't think many of us do... Until recently I had a very happy community tank with 2 blue yabbies, 2 plecs, 5 red cap orandas 1 siamese fighting fish and a few mollies. they all loved living together... that wouldn't of happend in the wild, Don't forget your animals aren't in the wild, they're captive, and in a small slice of water too. technically we shouldn't eat half of what we do as humans, but for me as well as my animals I believe variety is the spice of life... I had to part with the majority of my fish because they had grown too big, they had not got sick once in they're lives, no fin rot, no white spot, no fighting at all. Don't forget people, just because you can or should do something doesn't mean you should... how would you like to be kept in a 6x6 room and fed nuts and berries every day and a bit of raw meat every now and again? get a bit boring wouldn't it. wouldn't you like something different every now and again? Try looking at the Farm Animal Welfare Council 5 freedoms, Animals aren't just there for us to keep it's like the difference between a zoo and a nature conserve.

 

[Allan01230]

Do you all live your lives like you were in the wild? Do you all run around naked eating fruit nuts berries with the occasional bit of raw meat? No I don't think many of us do... Until recently I had a very happy community tank with 2 blue yabbies, 2 plecs, 5 red cap orandas 1 siamese fighting fish and a few mollies. they all loved living together... that wouldn't of happend in the wild, Don't forget your animals aren't in the wild, they're captive, and in a small slice of water too. technically we shouldn't eat half of what we do as humans, but for me as well as my animals I believe variety is the spice of life... I had to part with the majority of my fish because they had grown too big, they had not got sick once in they're lives, no fin rot, no white spot, no fighting at all. Don't forget people, just because you can or should do something doesn't mean you should... how would you like to be kept in a 6x6 room and fed nuts and berries every day and a bit of raw meat every now and again? get a bit boring wouldn't it. wouldn't you like something different every now and again? Try looking at the Farm Animal Welfare Council 5 freedoms, Animals aren't just there for us to keep it's like the difference between a zoo and a nature conserve.

You do realize this is a tropical fish hobbyist forum?

 

[mikebratcher69]

Read the rest of the post... just because I mentioned farm it doesn't mean its about farming!!!!! it was and is about fish