i have one chocolate albino pleco in my 75 gal. mixed cichlid tank. my fish are fed a pretty diverse diet. when i feed them i dont really cater to the needs of the pleco because when i feed them, my cichlids eat like they havent seen food in 4 or 5 days. ** THEY GET FED DAILY** the only time that the pleco gets food is when i put peas, squash, and or zucchinni on the algae/veggie clips. when i put any of those in there the pleco bullies its way to it...ive tried feeding the cichlids flakes and dropping sinking wafers in for the pleco but when the others see the wafers they are on it "like white on rice".......WHAT SHOULD I DO???? from what i have noticed due to my filtration, there is not much for the pleco to cleanup....my 3 clown loaches due a pretty good job of cleaning house!!! the pleco spends most of its time on the slate... :dance:
FEEDING ALBINO PLECO.
- Thread starter areallow750
- Start date
well... plecos cannot live on the algae from the tank alone-- I would suggest putting more food in if there isnt enough to go around
just put an extra veggie clip in... if it doesnt get eaten you an always remove it later
just put an extra veggie clip in... if it doesnt get eaten you an always remove it later
i agree, extra vege clip, or you could try feeding freeze dried worm of some sort before you drop in the algae wafers for the plecs, or another option would be to get the smaller wafers and spread them out a little more. You can always gravel vac if needs be
I suggest you feed the pleco at night after lights out. Plecos feed in the dark, the cichlids won't. I do this for plecos, otos and cories...who all night feed (in addition to day feed!)
thanks for the ideas..i have noticed that the pleco is all over the tank come time when the lights are out and just the l.e.d.'s are on!!! hopefully the wafers make it to the bottom in time for it to eat... the cichlids will most likely let them be?? ( the wafers )
I kept bristlenose plecos and bred them too in the community tank alongside other species. I fed the tank as usual and once a week algae wafers which pleco may or may not find quickly before other fishes. I also blanched vegetables like lettuce or zucchini and poked it using a fork and just dropped it in the tank once every few days. I didn't do anything else and they were fine. Their bellies always looked full.
I too raise Albino Bristle Nose and have found their two favorite foods seem to be zuccani and french cut green beans. I even feed my wrigglers this once they start coming out of the breeding caves. With pleco's you also want to make sure that you have some sort of driftwood in the tank for them to chew on. The wood helps keep their digestive tract in order.
I have found that if you break an algae wafer or cichlid stick in half you can insert it into whatever vegetable you are putting into the veggie clip. Then as they eat the veggie they get the algae wafer without the other fish trying to eat it. I have found this works best with cucumber and courgette(zuchini). I also put in veggies just before the lights go out for the night and by morning they are all gone.