Royal Pleco Help

[Rodney]

I had purchased a 5 inch royal pleco from my job, but died a week after i took it home. My royal pleco was in a 55 gallon tank, i feed it that algae sinking wafers but it never ate. I just wanted to know do anybody have a royal plecos or can some one give me some tips on how to care for one. THANKS..

 

[Mr Pleco]

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42856

Royals need wood and a lot of roughage, carrots work so do most veggies...at 5" he should have been fairly hardy

 

[wataugachicken]

how was the royal kept at your job? was there wood in the tank?

panaque species thrive on bogwood, and it makes up a large part of their diet. if they are deprived of wood, the cellulose-digesting bacteria in their intestines will die off. they will no longer be able to digest wood, even if they are in a tank full of it, and they will die.

aside from that. . . . did you test your water before and/or after adding the fish? or when it died?

 

[Wolf3101]

Thats my guess...I've seen them in distributors and LFS's with no wood in the tanks at all and sunken bellies. I'm hardly a pleco expert but when I got my Royal I did a LOT of research and of course got a lot of help from the resident pleco gods...LOL

 

[davo]

Avoid sunken bellies like the plague... and of course any ill looking specimens.