clown pleco question

[maxthedog123]

I recently purchased a clown pleco for one of my 30g tanks. It has a huge piece of driftwood in it, so that should be good for the pleco. 2 questions:

1. I never see him, but I kind of expected that. When I have done water changes, I get a huge amount of what looks like wood shavings from aroung the driftwood. It seemed like wood (rather than poop) because the pieces were pretty heavy and weren't getting readily sucked up by my python. I know they dig wook, so is it likely this are just shavings from where he has been working the wood, or does the wood go "right through them" so to speak?

2. What supplimental feeding do I need to do for a clown pleco?

[TheFanatic]

Is it a Royal Clown or just a simple Clown or Tiger pleco that sell for like $6? The latter is not as much of a wood eater. The former is. Any sort of veggie matter will help both.

You realize that the former will vastly outgrow that 30 gallon? I've personally seen them as big as my shoe and seen pictures of them even bigger.

[maxthedog123]

I believe it was advertised as Panaque maccus. I think I paid $12 for him. Everything I read seems to indicate the max size is around 3.5-4", so I hope that is correct or I will be finding a new home for him!!

My bushy nose pleco's have turned out to be fairly social - cruising around the tank occasionally during the day. I've been a bit bummed that I only see the clown if I move the driftwood.

[fishorama]

My clown plec has wood chunks by his favorite spot too. I think they break off the wood, it doesn't looks digested. You're right, it's hard to vac up.

I had a p. maccus that was barely 3 in. total after 8-10 years.

Try feeding after the tank light is out but the room lights still on. He does move down to "my" end of the tank if he hasn't had romaine or zucchini for a while. He stays in the shadows but it's as close to "begging" as he gets. They are omnivores so feed meaty foods too.

[TheFanatic]

OK, so we are talking about the latter. I have one of those. I have not seen them get very big at all. I had one for years. Maybe 7 years. Never got bigger than about 1.5 inches.

I actually moved the tank he was in about 40 miles away. I thought he was dead. Hadn't seen him in months. Drained the tank but left all the gravel and ornaments and loaded it into the back of a truck. There was no water in the tank other than what I couldn't get out with the siphon and it had about 3 inches of gravel. A few days after the move I saw him again. The little bugger lived out of the water for what had to be more than an hour.

I didn't realize they were such wood eaters. I would see the guy on wood but didn't notice him gnawing it away.

I actually have one of these in with a bunch of Africans. He hides but I see him every couple of days. I also have an L200 and an L236 in the tank. I drop a slice of Zucch in the tank and it's completely gone the next day. Don't know if he is getting any of that but somebody it chowing it down....

[Carp37]

I've got 2 Panaque maccus and they do make a lot of mess chewing wood- I'm not sure how much goes straight through them or how much they spit out (I suspect the former), but it makes the gravel very anaerobic if you don't get it up via the gravel vac in my experience- it does go up my gravel vac but is obviously heavier than "proper" fish waste (so does gravel if I'm not careful!). Mine are VERY slow growing too- I even posted on Planet Catfish to see whether this was normal and apparently it is. Unlike a lot of plecs they should get quite fat-looking though, when they're in good condition.

They should eat veggies but also other foods like catfish pellets, frozen bloodworm, even flake- they're true omnivores apart from NEEDING wood.

[TheFanatic]

I've got 2 Panaque maccus and they do make a lot of mess chewing wood- I'm not sure how much goes straight through them or how much they spit out (I suspect the former), but it makes the gravel very anaerobic if you don't get it up via the gravel vac in my experience- it does go up my gravel vac but is obviously heavier than "proper" fish waste (so does gravel if I'm not careful!). Mine are VERY slow growing too- I even posted on Planet Catfish to see whether this was normal and apparently it is. Unlike a lot of plecs they should get quite fat-looking though, when they're in good condition.

They should eat veggies but also other foods like catfish pellets, frozen bloodworm, even flake- they're true omnivores apart from NEEDING wood.

In regards to the slow growth, I was under the impression that their max size was under 2 inches until I saw some that were about 3 inches long at a LFS recently. They were also $40/per. I'll take the small ones for $6, thankyouverymuch!!!!

[Carp37]

In regards to the slow growth, I was under the impression that their max size was under 2 inches until I saw some that were about 3 inches long at a LFS recently. They were also $40/per. I'll take the small ones for $6, thankyouverymuch!!!!

Max size on Planet Catfish is listed as 3.9" Standard Length (i.e. without the caudal fin, sometimes erroneously referred to as the tail), so they theoretically get to nearly 5" total length. $6 is a pretty good price, although your prices in the US are so much cheaper than ours...

[lymabean]

I have one of these guys. He was VERY shyand didn't leave his hole in the driftwood. I even thought he was nocturnal. LAtely hes been coming out alot more during the day, and is always out until i make a noise and scare him back into his hole. I think that soon he'll get used to me too, considering hes been in my tank for not even a month. He eats zuchinni and cucumber, i have yet to try sqaush.

[NoDakinMN]

I have two clowns in my 210. One is definitely more shy than the other. I found that if I feed at lights out at night.... always in the same two areas..... they have learned the routine to come out for an algae wafer. I also pickup some blue nightitme LED's thru F&S, so I can observe my tank at night.

I added some mopani wood and they will come out during the day for that. I also feed cucumber, yams, and zucchini and will notice them coming out during the day light to eat these.

Here is a pick of one of the clowns on a cuke.http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/NoDakinMN/IMG_1460.jpg

[wataugachicken]

yeah, i have 4 clowns and a royal pleco in my 150. . . i have to clean the canister weekly otherwise it clogs up with their leftovers and piles of 'sawdust' form in my tank. the wood is all wild-collected and somewhat soft, so it's easy for them to chew up.

[Jayhawk]

My clown pleco used to eat/chew up lots of wood, but he doesn't do that much anymore. He's around 5 years old and a mighty 2.5" SL.

Mine eats anything (algae tabs, bottom feeder tabs, shrimp pellets, blood worms, veggies, etc.), and he comes out for food and at times during the day he'll come out...but my tank is very heavily planted and he has lots of hiding places.

Eric