Golden Nugget pleco wont EAT

[SpitRhyma]

Hi i bought a golden nugget pleco yesterday, and it is around 2 inches long. but it wont eat. he never goes down to the bogwood, he stays on the side of the tank or on the side of the filter box.

What should i do?
Would it die if it doesnt eat?

Thanks
Jonathan

LMAO!!!
Wow and I thought I worried too much about my fish. Come on man "i bought the pleco yesterday" is the key to the answer. Be very impressed with fish that DO eat on their first day in a new tank (after a drive in a small plastic bag...) because most won't. Especially shy fish like fancy plecos and such.

BUT for the future... here are some tips:

Now if you don't see him feeding in the day time... try getting getting your tank completely dark for a few hours in a dark room. Then adjust your eyes to the darkness, and come look now... If he's constantly moving around and looks like he's sucking then he's looking for food.

If his stomache is always skinny and there is no significant algae in the tank then throw in algae wafers. If there is algae in the tank... your fish is too shy for it's environment and will probably die soon.

If it rejects wafers completely, you have to create your own live algae. Take a peice of wood (plecos/catfish often eat wood too) and put it in a small bowl of water. Get one of those 6 dollar desk lamps from Osh. Buy the most powerfull compact flourescent BULB that will fit and put the wood under heavy lighting 24/7. For your water, you can use the water you syphon from your gravel to maximize nitrite production (like fish manure). Make sure you sit the wood in a nitrite free bowl of water for a while before throwing it near your pleco's favorite hiding spot. If this doesn't work either then prepare for a loss.

If your pleco (or other fish) gets so skinny from starvation that it looks deformed and it's stomache gets sucked in it's probably going to die. Always check plecos and hard to feed fish before buying them from the petshop for this... I don't know for a fact but I believe a fish'es stomache can actually heal if it doesn't eat long enough. I've seen fish so skinny that they're partially transparent and I can see the food go in their mouth and stays in their head for a while... then they spit it out and try to eat another one. It's a sad sad thing

Good luck fellow fish keepers...

 

[Mudfrog]

Now you have me wondering about the L018 I just purchased about 4-5 days ago. Although it does constantly hide and I have seen it swimming around some. However I have not seen it eat yet. I'll have to keep an eye on him. I might have to set up a new tank for him as the fish he is in with are very very messy fish and I'm thinking that could cause problems...

 

[Mudfrog]

Well came home from work today to a dead L018.. I guess it died from not eating but by the time I found him the others had torn into him.