Royal plecos

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Cypherman

All about Aulonocara!
Apr 3, 2002
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Buffalo, NY
Hey,

I just ordered a pair of royal plecos and they came in pretty bad shape. Their fins are frayed, their eyes are sunken in and their bellies are concave. They arent sluggish however, so I do have some hope for them, but I was wondering what I could do for them. My tank does have driftwood in it for them to munch on, although theyre keeping towards the rocks, and I feed spirulina wafers at night for my other bottom dwellers (rhino pleco, two red tail sharks, featherfin cat). Any suggestions on how to beef them up (one's for a friend so id REALLY rather not lose them or im out of 15 bucks :( )
 

VoodooChild

Kissin' the Sky
Dec 17, 2001
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You might want to put a divider in there just for them. I think the seperation would make it easier for them to find food, but moving them to a different tank may be too stressful. Besides, you never know when the divider will come in handy later on. As far as food goes, you have the basics. You could try supplementing though with cucumbers, romain lettuce, spinach. They'll probably shoot straight for that. Once they look better and are eating well, say a couple of weeks, then you could probably place them back with the others. Just give them enough time to get enough strenght to compete with the guys you got in there. That's going to be some competition. Good luck.
 

Cypherman

All about Aulonocara!
Apr 3, 2002
169
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Buffalo, NY
Thanks fo the advice. Unfortunately however, I came home from work to find one dead. Very sad...Both of their bellies are definitely fuller so I dont know what happened, I guess it was just too little, too late. The worst thing is it was the nicer looking of the two too :(
 

VoodooChild

Kissin' the Sky
Dec 17, 2001
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Stomachs will swell up if they're starving, so make sure you seem them eat. As far as torn fins/roughed up scales, I've had alot of good luck with Melafix, which you can find at just about any LFS. I'm probably the only person on the forum who likes the stuff...
 

Cypherman

All about Aulonocara!
Apr 3, 2002
169
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0
Buffalo, NY
I work at a pet store, so I ordered them for myself. And I really do like Melafix :D
 

clayt101

Registered Abuser
How's the other one doing? Is it still alive? BTW, I will be in Buffalo later this month, any good LFS for me to check out (plecos mainly):) I see one advertising one selling on aquabid.
 

Cypherman

All about Aulonocara!
Apr 3, 2002
169
0
0
Buffalo, NY
TheFishPlace
141 Robinson St.
North Tonawanda, NY

Go to yahoo.com and use maps to get directions. It looks like crap on the outside, but its by far the most amazing fish store you'll ever go to. They have blue spotted greens at 4-5 inches for 39 or 49.99 and a new panaque species that looks like a blue eye with blue fins with white edges and no blue eyes...Very nice. Oh ye, and and a 14 inch goldy for 129.99 ;) But I go there for their cichlids, mainly heh.

And the other royal is alive, although he has colorless patches on his skin that worry me and is a light shade of gray with the black stripes. But he has filled out a bit, which is good.
 
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