Binge eating Pleco?

I have a quickly-growing common pleco in my 75G tank, and figured I could be doing more to supplement his diet. The tank is shared with several goldfish and dojo loaches. He gets lots of opportunity for both algae and premium goldfish pellets, but I noticed he was out in the daylight quite a bit and thought hunger might be an issue. Rather than make it MORE likely he might attack the other fish, I introduced him to zucchini.

I blanched and cut some medallions, and weighted one with a lead planting strip just to keep it stable. After three days, the piece was still there I was ready to give up and try again other time. To my surprise the following morning the slice was hollowed out. I replaced it with a fresh one.

Again, three days passed without progress. The next morning only the weight remained - even the skin was gone.

Slowly, I've been able to catch him eating it during the day, which is entertaining. Then he would dispatch the zucchini slice in a day. I increased the size, but now he thinks it's a personal challenge to finish eating it as soon a possible (not to mention he gets territorial and fends off other fish who take interest). This 5" pleco will eat a 1" section of a large zucchini in less than a day.

Anyone have any thoughts on a happy medium here? I certainly appreciate giving the pleco something else to crave besides slimecoats, but I don't want to give him the trots either.

He has lots of driftwood, much of it already covered with algae -- mostly green-spot algae though, which I understand they don't care for. I wish he'd take more of an interest in cleaning some off my plants too (instead of just eating them, which he does on occasion).

I caught him out and about earlier. The big round thing in the background is a zucchini slab. Sorry about the algae on the glass. My second-hand tank already had some nasty scratches in the main face when I got it.

Thought I saw an algae wafer around here somewhere.


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