Zucchini question

[Linus_Cello]

You may want to try blanching the zuchinni to make is softer; it may be more appealing for them. I do it so it sinks more easily.
Another thought is that you can rub cut garlic on your zuchinni; supposedly garlic is an appetitte stimulant. There is also garlic extract you can soak the zuchinni in. Maybe you can also stud the zuchinni with some pellets, which may make it more attractive.

 

[Red Devil]

some plecos never take to the zucchini ... some require more of a protein type diet along with a little veggie food.. also you may drop some sinking pellets in to see if they go for them.. .. so depending on species ... also if you have enough algae growing in the tank ... they just may be content enough at the moment.....and will learn the pellet route is even easier... young fish just need to learn..if they do not eat it in a reasonable amount of time.. take it out .. otherwise it will contaminate the tank.. but try again often..

 

[Red Devil]

You may want to try blanching the zuchinni to make is softer; it may be more appealing for them. I do it so it sinks more easily.
Another thought is that you can rub cut garlic on your zuchinni; supposedly garlic is an appetitte stimulant. There is also garlic extract you can soak the zuchinni in. Maybe you can also stud the zuchinni with some pellets, which may make it more attractive.

excellent advice

 

[RTCfan86]

They finally ate those slices. Thanks all.

 

[ElectricBlueSeanBurch]

You may want to try blanching the zuchinni to make is softer; it may be more appealing for them. I do it so it sinks more easily.
Another thought is that you can rub cut garlic on your zuchinni; supposedly garlic is an appetitte stimulant. There is also garlic extract you can soak the zuchinni in. Maybe you can also stud the zuchinni with some pellets, which may make it more attractive.

If you read the dietary sticky it clearly says DO NOT BLANCH! All this does is remove nutrients. If you blanch the food for the pleco then feeding him the veggies is pointless

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

If you read the dietary sticky it clearly says DO NOT BLANCH! All this does is remove nutrients. If you blanch the food for the pleco then feeding him the veggies is pointless

Good point!

 

[moola]

I generally put in a chunk of zucchini rather than a slice - maybe 1.5-2" piece of a small zuke (say 1.5" diameter). I weight it with a fork and they go at it like crazy. For our older guy (P. pardalis) when we first tried it, he ignored it until I took the advice of others here and let him get a little hungry, then jammed some of the regular algae wafers into the zucchini chunk. He got the idea real quick and has never looked back!

 

[Red Devil]

If you read the dietary sticky it clearly says DO NOT BLANCH! All this does is remove nutrients. If you blanch the food for the pleco then feeding him the veggies is pointless

it is not pointless... it still has plenty of nourishment... but the quality is significantly less if it ends up being cooked.. heres a little info..
Blanching vegetables. Blanching is the exposure of the vegetable to boiling water or steam for a brief period of time. The vegetable must then be rapidly cooled in ice water to prevent cooking. Blanching is essential for top quality frozen vegetables. It also helps to destroy microorganism in the surface of the vegetables. It makes vegetables, such as broccoli and spinach, more compact, so they do not take up as much room in the freezer. It is important to follow the time recommended for blanching each vegetable carefully – . Over blanching results in a cooked product and a loss of flavor, color and nutrients. Under blanching stimulates enzyme activity and is worse than no blanching at all. i agree with you better to not blanch.. just scrub and wash the veggie well.. but blanching lightly is okay too.. just has to be just right..

 

[fetto]

I bought a Royal pleco the other day, and went looking for him and couldnt find him. For 2 hours i searched around, determined to locate him. I gave up, went to shoprite. Got home took a cucumber and cut it into salad sized pieces, rubber banded them to a rock or 2, or speared them on the driftwood in the morning. Within 5 minutes the BN and royal were going to town on the cucumbers. By the next morning, they had completely skinned every piece, and ate the center out of 2 of the 3 pieces. I removed them after 24 hours.

 

[Inglorious]

I ordered something called a screwcumber off of ebay that is basically a giant SS corkscrew. It's easy to thread the zucchini on it and my wife isn't upset that I'm using her silverware in my tank anymore.