Sinking zucchini

[blackghostknife]

I put a spoon or a sanitized screw through it. pm me if you have more questions

 

[knifegill]

Boil, no. It will just fall apart. Blanch it if anything.

My L200 eats it raw, but won't eat the seeds so I rip them out.

I cut it in a disk and punch out the middle. Most of the nutrition is in the skin anyway. And I also use the rubberband-it-to-a-rock method.

It takes a few days for the pleco to realize it's food. Typically, a piece of zucchini will last about 24 hours. Then you can swap it out for a fresh one. And make sure the pleco is hungry.

 

[supersean]

ok he took a chunk out of the skin of the zucchini but didnt eat it all

 

[knifegill]

Yay!

 

[Red Devil]

i microwave it a few moments and soften it up.. i don't have enough forks to go around...and this way it sinks right to bottom

 

[blondeyny]

I used a plant sinker (the kind that comes on bunches of stem plants when you buy them). I blanch zucchini and poke the sinker through it. I curl it around in a circle and drop it in.

 

[supersean]

great now i dont know if it eat it or not because i have 3 other fish in my tank and i saw one eating the zucchini so i really dont know now

 

[blondeyny]

You usually can still tell the difference between a pleco eating it versus a reg fish.

 

[Cybercyde]

Boil, no. It will just fall apart. Blanch it if anything.

What knife's getting at is - don't boil it for 20 minutes. 2-5 minutes at a rolling boil is fine so long as you're not using paper thin slices. When the center starts to go transparent, you're good in most cases.

Blanching is something done to fruits/veggies to soften/lightly cook/loosen & soften their skin. It's boiling followed by cold/ice water, just very short term. IE - Tomato blanching is very fast... 30-60 seconds to loosen the skins for sauce making. Zucchini takes longer to soften. The longer you boil anything, the less nutrients it retains. Steaming is a great option, but not as practical.

Think of it as "quick boiling", as to blanch, you're dropping it into a pot of boiling water for a short period of time.

Personally, my ottos get 1/8" sliced zuc that's been boiled for 2-3 minutes. They won't touch it otherwise - boiled shorter or longer. I raise such picky fish. -_-

If they don't ever eat it, try other veggies. My fish go nuts for the pre-cooked steampack brussel sprouts. Just thaw, and drop in. Be aware, they screw with water aroma like asparagus screws with your.... well, they'll make the tank smell like ripe brussels.

Red leaf, romaine, mixed greens, etc. Collards will need to be blanched in a lot of cases.

 

[NixMix]

Also you might want to try some canned green beans... I haven't done that yet but that's my next experiment. I use peas and zucchini right now though. Happy fishies!