Pleco food ideas?

[jcmonkeygirl]

I have had my pleco for about 2 years and all he eats are algae wafers and algae. He doesn't care for his driftwood or zucchini. Does anyone have any ideas of anything else i can feed him. I feel bad that he eats the same thing everyday. My other fish eat a variety of foods.

[brianfl]

Depends what kind of pleco. Some will eat shrimp pellets, other strictly vegetables. Almost all will eat zucchini, suprised yours doesn't especially since he is big.

[thecowman]

My pl*co likes to eat spinach and romaine lettuce (don't give it iceburg lettuce, it is very low in nutrients). What I do is I take a piece of slate or other rock and attach the lettuce or spinach with a rubber band so it will sink to the bottom. My pl*co loves this, that is, when the goldfish don't eat it first. You could also blanch the vegetables to make them sink, but this does take some of the nutrients out and the fish seem to enjoy munching on the raw stuff. If yours won't eat it, try different vegetables or just let it continue to eat the wafers and algae. Once it is used to eating these foods, it can be tough to get it to change.

[polkadot]

What pleco is that? If its a carni, onmi, try feeding them bloodworms!

[jcmonkeygirl]

i honestly don't know what type of pleco he is. Bought him from petsmart as a COMMON 1.5" pleco. He is only~7" now and i have heard he is supposed to be alot bigger by now. I will try different veggies and hopefully he will like it. thanks for all the suggestions

[brianfl]

I am surprised at the size. I have a 7" common and have had him for about 4 months and he was about 1" when I got him. What size is your tank?

[jcmonkeygirl]

He was in a 10 gallon for awhile, so i bought a 20 gallon. I finally have his 55 gallon set up and he is being moved into that today. I figure i might have stunted his growth from him being in a smaller tank. i am hoping he will grow more now that he is going into the 55.

[ArkyLady]

I have one that I've had for about 9 months and he's just now around 7" ... been in a 55 gallon since he was 3", so I don't think he would have been stunted. He's just not growing very fast, not sure why he eats like a pig :D

[clayt101]

I find that plecos grow at different speeds. I have had some that grow fast, some slow. I would recomend trying spinach as well:)

[jcmonkeygirl]

Ok so i tried romaine lettuce and zucchini again and he doesn't like either one of those. I think i will try spinach as well. Thanks for all the help!

[LMOUTHBASS]

mine ate one seems happy with this

[NJ Devils Fan]

I've had my pleco for about a year or so, and he is about 5-6 inches or so. I got him at about 3 ish inches. I guess it was because I barely used to feed him anything special, not to mention he was in a 10 gallon for most of his life.