Pleco doesnt seem to be eating. Help!

[McKinney13]

I have a baby 2inch common pleco. I put him in with some goldfish but he didn't seem to be eating. The goldfish started eating his food and now I'm concerned for him. I love the little guy and I've only had him about a week and a half. I separated him into his own tank alone and I check the disk wafers i put in and he doesnt seem to be eating them. I mean I do notice what could possibly be nibbles taken from one. I just don't want to loose him. I checked his belly and it's not sunken in as if he's starving. He's usually stuck to his tank or his blue decoration that's an arch. I feed him at 11 pm when I get home from work. I understand he is quite small and won't be able to eat a full wafer. But sometimes I see crumbs where one was but no disk. Just crumbs. This happens like every 3 days.

 

[fishorama]

Does it poop? You should be able to see even baby pleco poo. Most algae wafers are easy to break apart into small pieces. I'd try half or 1/4 & see. You don't want excess food left in the tank but growing young fish need access to food much of the time. I'd suggest you vacuum out leftover food every 24 hours & offer less the next feeding until you can judge the "right amount". As it grows it will need more but not too much at a time, it's a learning curve.

Frequent water changes are a big plus for helping young fish grow.

 

[McKinney13]

He does poop. I see it every once in a while. He's about to get a much bigger tank when I get paid. I don't have a vacuum for aquariums yet, I use a net to remove uneaten food

 

[fishorama]

Gravel vacuums cost maybe $10. It's essential for water changes, removing poo & uneaten food. You can also just use a long piece to tubing but not as effective as a gravel vac. How are you changing water in the goldfish tank? They eat & poo a lot!