BN's and Zucchini Question

[DLV082]

Can you give too much zucchini to a BN. As you might of read in some of my previous threads I had a population explosion of BN fry in my 180g tank and recently stripped down the tank and relocated them to growout tanks. Well whilst they were in the 180g they never touched the zucchini as they could not compete with the larger BN's but now they are in there own tank they can go through a whole zucchini a day. Is this too much? I do daily WC to clean the bottom of the tank and 2 x 50+% WC weekly.

In the community tank I would give zucchini only twice a week. They also receive other foods such as blood worm and alge wafers but as soon as the zucchini hits the tank all the inhabitants converge on the zucchini it can disappear in less than 8 hours.

Should I cut back or just let them have as much as they want?

[BioHazard]

I wouldn't worry about it. If your parameters are stable, and trates are not getting too high, let them feast!

[Ashes2ashes]

I have 15 very young pleco and they LOVE to eat the zuchinni lol. Like Bio said, I would think it would be ok as long as you are not having issues with nitrates or ammonia.

[ianab]

You cant overfeed plecos on fresh veges like that, it's their natural food.

Only thing is that they may eat so much that water quality becomes a problem. More filtering and water changes can make up for that though.

Feed em, and keep changing the water and they will be OK.

Ian

[pinkertd]

:iagree:As long as you are still giving them foods that contain some proteins and vitamins, let them have lots of zucchini. When you offer the other foods, don't leave the zucchini in there too.

[patrick.paul]

Question -

How do you prepare your zucchini? I boil water and toss it in for 3-4 minutes. It sinks like I want it to but gets really mushy really quickly though.. Any other suggestions?

[pinkertd]

I put large wedges of it in raw on a fork with the adults and subadults. For the young I either do a wedge if the zucchini isn't very wide around or a thick slice on the big zucchini, cover it with water and microwave for 1 minute, served on a fork.

[patrick.paul]

I will have to try that today :) Just room temperature water enough to cove the zucchini and then nuke it for 1 minute? Served on a fork to make it not float?

[pinkertd]

That's correct.:thumbsup:

[rockhoe14er]

I put large wedges of it in raw on a fork with the adults and subadults. For the young I either do a wedge if the zucchini isn't very wide around or a thick slice on the big zucchini, cover it with water and microwave for 1 minute, served on a fork.

Do you ever have to worry about the pesticides on the zucchini? is it better to peel?

[pinkertd]

I always rinse well under running water and leave the peels on. It would probably be better to peel the ones I put in in chunks, then plecos could get to both sides. I don't worry about pesticides for them anymore than for us. I beleive all veggies are at least semi-permeable, therefore pesticides, if used, would penetrate to the inside as well.

[aquanurse]

Are you guys putting it in on plastic forks? or does that even matter? Also what time a day do you feed them? Is it best to drop it in at night?

[bradlgt21]

Plastic forks won't work because they will float. Try stainless silverware. I usually use a butter knife, the short fancy type, that way they don't fork themselves. I use planting tongs to pick them back up off the bottom.

[BioHazard]

I just use bamboo skewers. The zuch seems to sink well enough on its own, and I can wedge the skewer in place by shoving one end in the gravel and the other under my magfloat.

[TwoTankAmin]

Let them feast but not at the cost of abandoning a varied and balanced diet.

There are two ways to feed zuke. One is plain and raw. You can use any number of ways to keep it down from bamboo skewers to a variety of metal kitchenware. My preferred method for feeding it raw is to make slices or chunks and then use a feeder clip with a suction cup which can be bought at most fish selling locations/sites.
http://akamai.edeal.com//images/catalog3684/folder24579/img3041091med.jpg

The other way I work with zuke is to slice it up, then using waxed paper, I wrap it and freeze it. Then I defrost it in the microwave. It can also be nuked raw. The idea behind nuking is to get the equivalent to parboiling. I put slices into a small bowl and then nuke it on defrost. I then put it into a bowl of cold water and wait to see if it sinks as it cools down. If not, I nuke it some more and repeat the process till i have a bowl full of zucchini that sinks. Nuking like this is a trial and error process and the time needed will vary depending on whether you start with raw or frozen slices and what power oven you have.

Here are some lf chowing down on nuked zuke:
http://twotankamin.smugmug.com/photos/812372369_ZW9A7-M.jpg

[DLV082]

Thanks for the replies. No problems with water paramaters as I vaccumn every day. As to preparation I don't have to worry about pestisides as I grow the zucchini myself. And I don't cook the zucchini. All I do is to slice the zucchini up and put it in the freezer and then take it out and just leave it defrost when I need it. The freezing process seems to soften it up enough for the fry to munch out on.

[aquanurse]

Mine never gets any food, the pictus cats eat anything that hits the bottom before he can, he is living on algae alone right now. Does anyone know if they will eat the Zucchini too? I feel like he is starving...even though he is growing.

[DLV082]

No harm in trying thats the only way you are going to find out.