Feeding my Rubber lip Pleco

F

fishn10s

AC Members
Aug 28, 2006
58
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0
Southern Calif
I just bought a rubber lip pleco. (my first pleco) Do they actually have the ability to bite and or eat a piece of uncooked zucchini or cucumber or leafy vegetable for that matter. It appears that their mouth is sucker like. I have read to just put the vegetable in raw and also to cook it a little. I put in a piece of zucchini last night and he didn't touch it for 8 hours and when I removed it, it was still pretty firm. Did he not eat because he couldn't or because he wasn't hungry? I bought some algae wafers and see if he is more interested in those. He is in a quarantine tank with no algae. ;)
 
I will tell you it may take them a few days/week to figure out it's food :)
Mine were weird the first day/week. Then suddenly realized.. HEY! That's food!
Now they eat everything, especially love dark leaf vegetables, but will swing their bodies around thrashing at the other fish if they try to get their algae wafers.
Took longer to eat wafers.
So be patient, Keep adding different things. Dark leaf lettuce, zucchini, sweet potatoe etc. Mine have no problem eating any of it raw. You can see the "scrapes" :)
They do have teeth, have damaged some acrylic tanks from what I read heh.

Kath
 
dabaers said:
I will tell you it may take them a few days/week to figure out it's food :)
Mine were weird the first day/week. Then suddenly realized.. HEY! That's food!
Now they eat everything, especially love dark leaf vegetables, but will swing their bodies around thrashing at the other fish if they try to get their algae wafers.
Took longer to eat wafers.
So be patient, Keep adding different things. Dark leaf lettuce, zucchini, sweet potatoe etc. Mine have no problem eating any of it raw. You can see the "scrapes" :)
They do have teeth, have damaged some acrylic tanks from what I read heh.

Kath
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the reply. Your answer really helped me to know a little better what to expect. How long should you leave the food in uneaten? I have heard a couple hours to 24 hours?
;)
 
when i first started to feed my pleco (just a common pleco) veggies, i cooked them with a bit of fresh garlic, because i heard that garlic helps stimulate thier appetite. i dropped the veggie in, it took him about a half hour, but he then realized it was food and theres been no going back every since, he expects veggies every night now!
 
fishn10s said:
Thank you very much for the reply. Your answer really helped me to know a little better what to expect. How long should you leave the food in uneaten? I have heard a couple hours to 24 hours?
;)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the "official" answer to this would be, but I never leave anything I feed them in the tank longer than 24 hours.
Hope that helps and Good luck , I love mine, so fun to watch! :)

Kath
 
Thanks for all the input. It really helped. I got a plastic clip to hold the food and suction to the glass and presented it to him that way. It took a couple days however I finally saw some teeth marks then actually saw him eating. I boil it just a short period before putting it in the tank to soften it a little. I will leave the 2 inch piece for up to 2 days and then remove what is not eaten.
 
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