Hello, I am new to the forum, and I have a 29 gallon tank with an Oscar, Pacu, three tinfoil barbs, and a recently dead pl*co, which are all going into a 55 gallon aquarium soon, except for the pl*co. They're all 3 inches or less so they can tolerate just a few more, hopefully, days in the tank. Anyways, I've had my setup for almost 2 months, and I've had the fish I currently have for about 6 weeks. I was surprised to see that my pl*co died yesterday. I had noticed the day before that he was sitting long amounts of time in certain spots, which was unusual since he was young and pretty much always active. I noticed that his fins were tattered and ragged, but I didn't know what to think of that, but aggressive behavior from other fish was definitely not a reason. I had put a piece of driftwood from a forested area behind my house in the tank a week before. I had boiled and got it waterlogged in one day. I don't think that was a cause for his death, but I'm just throwing it out there. I use floating fish food, and he never swam upside down to eat some(my fish ravage the surface when it's feeding time, and don't leave any food left uneaten). I regularly put an algae wafer in the tank, which I worried the pl*co wouldn't get to before the other fish found it. I put it in the tank once at night, but I don't know who got to it first. I really couldn't tell if it was eating. So, my greatest suspicion of its death is starvation, which I've read is a common cause of death for pl*cos. Here are some questions I have about these fish.
How can you tell if they're eating?
What are some things I can do to make sure that my future pl*co is eating?
How often should they be fed? with algae wafers? My friend never bought algae wafers for his pl*co, and it's grown 4 inches and doing fine. I never see it eat.
Thanks for your help.
How can you tell if they're eating?
What are some things I can do to make sure that my future pl*co is eating?
How often should they be fed? with algae wafers? My friend never bought algae wafers for his pl*co, and it's grown 4 inches and doing fine. I never see it eat.
Thanks for your help.