Pleco not finding food

[Hockey4Life0413]

Well I dont have any algea in my tank anymore so I needed to find some food for my pleco. So I looked it up on google and found they eat vegtables and in some pictures I saw tomatos. The only kind I had left in my house. So I cut up a couple of pieces and put them in the tank, but still my pleco is looking on the glass for food. When will he realize that its food?

[tai95]

You need to find out what type of pleco you have. There are many different plecos and they all have different dietary needs. Once you figure out what kind you have It would be easier to tell you what to feed it.

[fishcatch22]

well, all plecos need VEGTABLES in their diet, NOT fruit.(except for zucchini and cucumbers, of course.) tomatos are fruit, BTW, and not very good for your pleco. the best foods you can feed your pleco are green, leafy vegtables and zucchini and cucumber, as well as sinking algae wafers.

[Wishful]

Other common foods for omnivorous or herbivorious plecos (not all have the same food requirements, some are primarly carnivorous, btw):
sweet or regular potato, squash, peas. I've also run across people giving theirs eggplant, carrots (cooked until soft), mango and even banana.

The hard part is that you're presenting foods a pleco won't normally have seen, especially if it was wild-caught. And some plecos will simply starve to death without ever learning to eat alternative foods. Putting the food near it's usual resting places, giving it in the evening when it's normally more active and making sure the veggies are well blanched will sometimes help.

[ChileRelleno]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46284