a few concerns

M

misscrosson

Aquarium Addict
Sep 7, 2005
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Ontario, Canada
I have afew questions that have been pondering my mind, and I thought I should see what others had to say..

My tank is a 70gallon, been running for 9-10months, it houses:

-3 dwarf gouramis
-2 honey gouramis
-3 cories
-10 neon tetras
-pleco

1st...
I'm really worried about my pleco, I dont really know what type of pleco he is, heck, i dont even remember what he looks like!! The reason for this is I have a rock cave in my aquarium and he's always inside there, when it's feeding time he sometimes will come out for afew seconds, but then goes back inside... I've seen pictures of other people's pleco's, even ones at pet store and they're always out in the open... i often forget i even have a pleco because i seriously never see him... is this normal?

2nd...
I only feed my fish once a day, i give them a pinch of flake food and about 2-3 sinking pellets.... and im just curious if I'm under feeding them??

3rd...
Today I tested my water, which I do only about once a week now... and my nitrates were at 10.... which kind of scared me, because i havn't really seen them show up that much in awhile, my nitrates usually stay below 5... my last water change was 4days ago...and i changed out 20% of the water... should i be worried, and do yet another water change?
 
pleco's are mainly nocturnal..if you turn out the light or have moonlight lamps you ''ll prob see them more..what do you feed the plec??
i would definately try to determine the species..as it will tell you more about how to take care of them...check planet catfish. I have a bn and she gets peas, zuccinni and wafers along with whatever algae she can find..oh and angel eggs(not by choice)

a lot of folks feed their fish once a day..I prefer twice..I feed them about what they can consume in 30 seconds..with angels..that's a lot..
with nitrates at 10 you should be fine..
 
yeah, I have.. and even with the lights out he doesnt come out... hmm, maybe during my next water change I'll remove the rock cave (since I do need to clean up the gravel under it anyways) and see if I can snap afew pictures of him.. alot of the time I think he's dead cause I NEVER see him..
 
You're not underfeeding your fish if you're feeding them once a day.

Have you checked the nitrate level in your tap water as well as your tank? In some parts of the country, tap water can carry significant amounts of nitrates (and the level can fluctuate seasonally). If your tap water has high levels of nitrates right now, doing a water change would make things worse! If the tap water nitrate levels are below 10, though, another water change certainly wouldn't hurt.
 
It wouldn't hurt to start putting in a slice of cucumber or some other veggie for the pleco. right before you turn the lights out for the night I would add it, and see if he ventures out for it
 
My brother's clown pleco generally only gets seen if he is cleaning the tank and moves something near the pleco. They are surprisingly good hiders when they are smaller.
 
Holly9937 said:
It wouldn't hurt to start putting in a slice of cucumber or some other veggie for the pleco. right before you turn the lights out for the night I would add it, and see if he ventures out for it
Click to expand...

I'll second that idea!

I have 5 Clown Panaque in my tank and they love the fresh veggies. they ate up some zuchini the other day and last night I put in slices of cucumber and they were tearing it up! They also like fresh spinach as well!
 
do i add the cucumber then go to bed? or should i add it.. and wait maybe 15mins to see if he comes out, if not then take it out?

i have no cucumbers right now, so would maybe a potato work? how much do i add.. and how do i prepare it?
 
What you want to do is blanch the veggies...

Some say their Pleccos love potato.

Slice it up, bring some water to a boil and drop it in the boiling water for about 1 minute or so.

Another way is to put the veggie on a plate wrapped in a wet paper towel & Nuke it for 45-60 seconds.

you will want to stab it with a fork & place in the tank...forn will be an anchor for it.


Hope that helps!


PEACE!

-TF
 
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