Common Pleco question

[Spikor]

Hey, any one ever have a pleco turn carnivore? mine loves live worms...is this normal, or semi-normal, or completely abnormal?

thanks.

[oscar83]

i seem to remember someone on these forums saying that their plec loves blood worms. and mine occasionally dine on silversides if they can get to them before my oscar. so, yeah, i'd say its normal.

[StreetCypher]

As plecos get older, a lot of them will turn carnivorous requiring more meat in their diet as well as driftwood.

[Blinky]

It may have been my post you read, about my new gold nugget - GNs need a fairly meaty diet, and mine goes nutso for frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. Now that he's discovered Hikari algae wafers aren't going to jump out and bite him he'll eat those as well, but not with the same enthusiasm.
Commons are fairly vegetarian TMK, so make sure he gets his veggies to avoid constipation, but there's nothing wrong with meaty meals here and there. I'm sure in the wild they have quite a bit of variety in their diet.

[Nexus]

Mine liked to suck up a whole frozen cube of bloodworms if given the chance! :eek:

[kevinfishboy]

i have watched my 12 inch common pleco eat worms and then my pictus cat takes it away from him

[Mike Rathnow]

Omnivores. Which means the eat both vegetable matter and meat. Which includes shrimp, worms, dead fish Ect. My bristlenose will eat black worm as fast as I put them in the tank. Also like spartan said, including driftwood in the tank is a BIG plus for pleco's. They will be seen grazing on the wood all the time.

Mike

[RTR]

Do remember that in the wild when they are grazing algae, it is not a stand of pure algae - it is loaded with little crustaceans, infusoria organisms, and worms and smallish fish. They may be largely herbivorous, but they always have some higher-protein foods mixed in. And very few fish will miss a chance to eat a dead tankmate.

[Must4ng s4lly]

Mine liked to suck up a whole frozen cube of bloodworms if given the chance! :eek:


Mine too! LOL! It freaked me out the first time I saw it.

[JimT]

Over on the goldfish board I frequent, it's pretty common knowledge to not have a common pleco in with goldfish. They become carnivorous as they get older and start by eating the slime coat off of goldfish. They can then progress to eating fins or gnawing right through the side into the meat. Bristlenoses are considered ok. The lady at my LFS confirmed this over the weekend. She says bristlenoses are different from common plecs and stay herbivorous.

J

[nursie]

I was at a LFS store one time that learned the hard way about plecos eating goldfish. They had a large fancy tail gold fish with a perfect circle eaten into it's side....
I have read here that bristlenoses are supposed to be vegetarian...Ihave one now, a female, and I had a male several years ago; and I have seen both chase other fish in the tank.

[RTR]

Slime-sucking is not rare for any captive suckermouth catfish. It is a symptom of a starving, improperly fed fish - an artifact of tank life and the keeper's ingoring the needs of the fish.

[nursie]

I think the first bristlenose I had was being a territorial male. I had to give him his own zucchini slice or he would chase everyone in the tank away, and none of the other fish could get near "his" driftwood. He didn't care about the other driftwood in the tank...just "his".
The female I have will at least share the same slice of zucchini with the loaches. I saw her chase the betta tho..not sure that that was about.

[L046]

As scavangers, they'll almost eat anything that is considered as food.

[Maj0rFiSh]

If there are any floating blood worms on top of the water, my pleco will suck the surface and eat them, i never thought he would eat meaty type foods, seems he likes them though.