Pleco dietary needs...

[Captain Hook]

What about seeds in cucumber and stuff like that? Should I scoop them out before feeding the plecs?

 

[fishcatch22]

thanks A LOT for the sticky!! i'm getting a zebra pleco soon and I knew I needed to feed them veggies and flakes, but not meaty foods! i'll go get some shrimp pellets and bloodworms soon!

 

[DiscusFanatic]

Thanks for a very very good start of this thread!

I'm new to this site and am enjoying it!
I just got a BN pleco as a gift from my son for my b-day...I have had plecos before in all my other tanks. But none lately. As you can see from my nickname on here I am into Discus, the reason I went with BN is so the other types of plecos don't give them any "hickeys" so to speak. My bn is currently in a 25 gal qt tank by itself. I have been feeding it algae wafers, blanched homegrown zuchini, shrimp pellets and this morning just dropped in a bit of frozen blood worms to see if it will clean them up. This qt tank was setup the very day my son gave me the bn. So I know there's no algae in it for him to munch on hence the varied diet I'm trying to put in for it. I did pull a acrylic ornament out of 1 of my discus tanks that has the diatom reddish brown algae on it and put it in there for it to work on. All my tanks are bare bottom including this one. I am currently running 4 tanks all barebottom with discus in them with the exception of the 25 gal that I just set up. All my tanks get a 90% water change every other day.
I am going to get some real driftwood this week from a an LFS and boil it before putting it into my tanks. I am also hoping to find some more BN for all my tanks since none of the lfs seem to carry any with the one exception of the one my son bought for me.
DF

 

[iamsquatty]

do you think giving him some small pieces of apple would be ok? or would that not be soft enough and too grainy?

if not i will definately be running to the grocery store tomorrow to get some veggies!

 

[iamsquatty]

ive been feeding them zuchinni, summer squash (which they liked better), and today i gave them some mango, and they about went nuts over it!

 

[DrussRob]

I've seen Hillstream Loaches labelled as "algae eaters". An altogether completely different fish. Take a picture. I'm sure someone here will recognize it. Otherwise try www.planetcatfish.com

LFS here tried to sell me a brazilian royal they had labeled as a vampire pleco... Anybody can open a fish store. To open a fish store it takes money, not brains unfortunately.

 

[NecrochildK]

So glad to have found this thread! I love my pleco, but I wasn't aware that even the algae tablets weren't enough for him! Goind to get some spinach greens today. I know he'll be happy for that! I usually try to research my fishes' needs when I get one, but I had never read that about plecos before. Mine is still very little, (he's sucking on a crab food pellet he found right now) but it doesn't hurt to give him such leafy treats like spinach and such at his age, would it? I would imagine it would help him grow big and strong ^_^.

 

[iamsquatty]

^^ you might want to skip out on the spinach greens for right now, with the whole e.coli scare and all....try summer squash, or zucchini, or cucumber instead. mine absolutley goes NUTS over mango.

 

[jagarundi]

My Pleco practically climbs out of the tank to get to his zucchini. I split one in half, wrap it in a wet paper towel and nuke it for a minute and a half. After it cools, I attach it to a clip and stick it onto the wall of the tank. If I put it in the tank before I go to work, by the time I get home that evening, the Pleco and Black shark has it eaten to the skin!

 

[Star_Rider]

ecoli mostly affects humans

I don't blanch my zuccinni anymore..it doesn't seem to matter to my bn's. and the zuke stays fresher a bit longer too