zuccini question

[doubledragon]

When I went last wk. to pick up some fish the guy threw in a 15" pleco for free, so I was like o.k. I'll try it in my 220. I figured he would steal a piece of shrimp from the other fish when I feed the tank but hasn't yet and there is more algae in there now than when I had 1 tiny pleco, and one tiny chinese algae eater. I know they don't really like algae all that much when they get bigger but I thought I'd give it a shot since it was free.
Question is: I just put a big chunk of zuccini in there and all it does is float. I thought it would sink?
Another problem is one of the aro's keeps putting it in his mouth when he swims by and spitting it back out. What if he swallows it? Will he be able to digest it? Or should I just take the zuccini out and put some collard greens or something else in there? I might try algae wafers but I think my channel cat's might eat them.

 

[Druu]

Blanch the zucchini in hot water for a few seconds, it'll cause it to float. Just dip for a few secs though, totally boiling and cooking will leach out some vitamins.

 

[jojo_nature]

Use some lead (like what is wrapped around plants) to weight zuccini down.He might like cucumber aswell.

 

[Mr Pleco]

Rubberband the zuke to a rock or driftwood...or use a sterling silver baby spoon to weight it down....My 15" pleco could eat a whole zuke in a week, including the skin..fed it to him a half at a time...no need to blanch just wash throughly ...food is better off placed in tank before you go to bed.....

 

[Nova 8]

My 7" pleco will eat a whole zuke in 1-2days, my 13" will go thorugh a full zuke plus a inch think piece of pumpkin and a potato in two days, does he eat to much? I put a stainless steel tent peg through veggies feed to my plecos, also why blanch the veggies, is it to soften them? Plecos can eat wood why would you have to soften veggie?

 

[Druu]

My 7" pleco will eat a whole zuke in 1-2days, my 13" will go thorugh a full zuke plus a inch think piece of pumpkin and a potato in two days, does he eat to much? I put a stainless steel tent peg through veggies feed to my plecos, also why blanch the veggies, is it to soften them? Plecos can eat wood why would you have to soften veggie?

Blanching will cause a floating piece of zucchini or cucumber to sink. Give it a shot and check back with me.

 

[nolapete]

Tie a string to a fork. Poke fork into zucchini. Drop in tank. Fish eats zucchini. Retrieve fork with string. Rinse. Repeat.

Works with cucumbers too. Just about all of my fish love cucumbers.

 

[DasArab]

Use some lead (like what is wrapped around plants) to weight zuccini down.He might like cucumber aswell.

Thats exactly what i do with mine too.

 

[cvermeulen]

blanching rarely makes zucchini sink. I use a tiny spoon, bent into a U shape to weigh down zucchini. My plec eats more krill, bloodworms and sinking carnivore pellets than veggies though. I find he's not too interested in the zukes at all unless they are cooked a bit. Every pleco has different dietary needs though - find out what kind of plec it is and feed accordingly. Mine LOVES shrimp pellets and sinking cichlid pellets. He'll even retrieve floating cichlid pellets from the surface.

 

[Ianab]

Tie a string to a fork. Poke fork into zucchini. Drop in tank. Fish eats zucchini. Retrieve fork with string. Rinse. Repeat.

Works with cucumbers too. Just about all of my fish love cucumbers.

Worth repeating

Also have a read of this thread

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

Lots of other veges you can feed to plecos, and they like a bit of higher protein food too. Mine like whole shrimps as a treat.

Dont worry if your other fish eat a bit of it, wont hurt them to get some greens too.

Cheers

Ian