I just recently bought a 5" L191 and a 4" L14 and the little guys like to hang out in the same spot so in only a day or two they are making a nice little poop pile. While im trying to stay on top of it do you guys do anything special to try and cut down on the pleco waste that sits at the bottom of your tank?
What do you guys do about pleco poop piles?
- Thread starter KiiNGGiiNGER
- Start date
Aim a power head at the area the pleco's are occupying? A little water movement may carry the waste off..
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
I maintain a substrate less aquarium, so when the poop piles up , I siphon out from the bottom using a pipe. I do it once a week and it keeps it very clean
Sent from my GT-I9105 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Sent from my GT-I9105 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Hello; A few years back I had a 14+ inch common pleco. It was kept in a tank with no substrate. I did siphon out the large amount of waste fairly often but it kept piling up in long unsightly strings.
I introduced some red ramshorn snails to that tank. This had some benefits. First the pleco was fed various forms of plant based foods and as with many vegetarian species the food passes thru a less than perfect digestive system and the waste still contains considerable nutrition.
The snails would feed on the nutrients remaining in the waste and physically reduce it to very small snail waste. This snail waste was much less unsightly and was also of lesser volume as much of the bulk was being converted to snail tissue. This smaller snail waste was also much easier to clean up as there was less of it and siphoned better.
This also seems to have benefited the hornwort plants in the tank as they grew profusely. There was also some string algae growing that the pleco ate a bit of. Had an excess of the plants during this time.
The snails were so numerious I could stock my other tanks and had plenty to use as fresh live food for the other fish. I would catch the larger snails and crush the shells with a small plires kept handy. (learned not to use my fingers long ago) This fresh live food was taken eagerly by many of the other fish and was from a known safe source.
I introduced some red ramshorn snails to that tank. This had some benefits. First the pleco was fed various forms of plant based foods and as with many vegetarian species the food passes thru a less than perfect digestive system and the waste still contains considerable nutrition.
The snails would feed on the nutrients remaining in the waste and physically reduce it to very small snail waste. This snail waste was much less unsightly and was also of lesser volume as much of the bulk was being converted to snail tissue. This smaller snail waste was also much easier to clean up as there was less of it and siphoned better.
This also seems to have benefited the hornwort plants in the tank as they grew profusely. There was also some string algae growing that the pleco ate a bit of. Had an excess of the plants during this time.
The snails were so numerious I could stock my other tanks and had plenty to use as fresh live food for the other fish. I would catch the larger snails and crush the shells with a small plires kept handy. (learned not to use my fingers long ago) This fresh live food was taken eagerly by many of the other fish and was from a known safe source.