# hungry pleco?



## duke105077 (Feb 27, 2010)

i dont know if this is the right place to post this question but here it goes... i know that plecos eat at night so i drop an algae wafer near the back of the tank where he resides in a cave. i feed him after the tank has been dark for a couple of hours. the food is gone in the morning but i have no idea if it was the pleco that ate it. any additional advice on how to feed these guys would be a big help. thanks


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## random-cichlid (Dec 9, 2011)

cut a slice of zucchini and pierce it with a fork or what have u and place it in the tank with the fork it will go nuts.
It will be out and about eating, as soon as i put it in there its gone pretty much and i use half a zucchini at a time i have 3 plecos in there


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

Agreed, both zucchini and cucmbers, I put in 1/4 of one and between my orange seam pleco and my tiger barbs, it's gone by morning


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## RayQ (Sep 26, 2007)

You can also try a chunk of raw potato as well. . .just make sure you take it out after a few hours, it can make a huge mess otherwise. :lol:


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

IMO feeding plecos things like empty vegetables which are mostly water is foolish. They do eat vegetables and particularly pieces of fruit that fall into the water but this is not their main diet and shouldn't be a very significant part of it. There are commercial diets of very high quality for plecos. Some things that are surprisingly excellent for them are not marketed for them at all, like Dainichi's Veggie FX food. The best looking plecos are fed mostly fish food. Feed your pleco according to what it is- some are purely herbivores in the wild, some carnivores, some in between. If you want to direct food INTO the cave you can use rigid tubing and drop the food down it.


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

I've never especially fed my pleco.... and I had to rehome him cause he doubled his size in 2 years...


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

aquariam said:


> IMO feeding plecos things like empty vegetables which are mostly water is foolish.


I dont see how you come to this opinion... Their natural diet would be " mostly water" and veggies mimic things like natural vegetation that they would eat. Whats the problem?


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

They're not a nutritionally complete diet. You can give cucumber etc as maybe 10% but after that all the plecos I've seen on a mostly veggie diet look bad.


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## neutrino (May 4, 2007)

Zucchini or cucumber mostly water? True, but the same could be said of a number of veggies, including some of the fruits, seeds, or algae that Amazon system fish may eat in the wild.

"Foolish" to feed zucchini or cucumber as a treat they'll enjoy? Personal opinion. Look them up and you'll find each has certain minerals, including calcium and magnesium which are important to fish health, and vitamin C and A. I would certainly not recommend feeding any fish zucchini or cucumber as a staple-- virtually no protein, for one reason, and they lack a lot of other important nutrients and there are certainly other, _much _more complete veggie foods, including spirulina and other types of algae, kelp, peas, etc, not that I would forsake a good quality pellet in favor of using any of them as a staple-- but, considering feeding (clean) zucchini or cucumber won't hurt and will give them some valuable nutrients, saying it's "foolish" to feed them (as a treat) is a bit overboard imo.


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## neutrino (May 4, 2007)

aquariam said:


> They're not a nutritionally complete diet. You can give cucumber etc as maybe 10% but after that all the plecos I've seen on a mostly veggie diet look bad.


That I can agree with. Some people don't realize to what extent many plecos are actually more omnivorous than herbivorous, the amount of protein they need, or the amount of protein even "algae eaters" are actually getting as they eat not just algae but little organisms in the algae or in the periphyton (the bio-film that covers plants, substrate, etc. in their natural environment, which is full of microscopic flora and fauna).


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## neutrino (May 4, 2007)

Just to add a final thought or two, one of the favorite foods of some of the plecos I've had are a quality shrimp pellet (I use Omega One). I drop a few in at night after lights are off for a while.

Also, imo you need to pay attention to the ingredients on algae wafers, because they vary widely in the amount of actual algae or other quality veggie ingredients. Some of them are mostly fish meal plus a lot of starches, with relatively little actual algae in them... like Hikari-- Top 6 ingredients I found online are: Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Wheat Germ Meal, Starch, Dried Seaweed Meal, Dried Bakery Product.

Flour, starches, grain products... "dried bakery product"? Really? What is that, like 'mystery meat'? Dessicated Hostess twinkies? Not for my fish.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

aquariam said:


> They're not a nutritionally complete diet. You can give cucumber etc as maybe 10% but after that all the plecos I've seen on a mostly veggie diet look bad.


I'm guessing you haven't seen many plecos that have been properly taken care of...


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## nightowl1350 (Nov 26, 2005)

My BN will eat almost anything. I feed mine lima beans (shell remove) peas, cucumber, even cantelope sometimes. When I was making beef heart I used veggies in it as well and my plecos loved it to. They eat flakes I feed my other fish and pellets as well as algae wafers. It all depends on the type of pleco you have, but do your research and see if they are meat eaters or not.


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

I've seen BN plecos that did not appear to be fluorishing on this diet.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

duke105077, you never told us what kind of pleco you have. So, any opinions on what he should be feeding or not feeding his pleco shouldn't have even been offered up to him. Lumping all 'plecos' into one group and saying they'll do best on this or that is flat out wrong. They vary greatly in their nutritional needs. They vary as much as cichlids in that regard.

But, BN plecos (ancistrus) are veggie eaters and will thrive on veggies alone. Years of raising and breeding proved this out to me. Zucchini is a great food for them. That's all mine received.


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## duke105077 (Feb 27, 2010)

he's not anything special...from petco, about 5" long


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

duke105077 said:


> he's not anything special...from petco, about 5" long


Got a pic of him?


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## duke105077 (Feb 27, 2010)

no he chills in his cave literally all day!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Without an ID, it's going to be really hard for anyone to make recommendations on what you should feed him. But, you can add a good quality pellet food and it will probably do well by him regardless of whether he's a vegetarian or whatever. Works for my cichlids with different dietary requirements.


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## neutrino (May 4, 2007)

Valid point that it's a good idea to know what kind of pleco and while this is important information with certain species, I've had a good number of plecos in the different pleco families, including those considered herbivores and those considered carnivores and, without taking time to discuss technicalities of the nutritional aspects of algae, periphyton (bio-film), etc. or of the technicalities of what herbivores are actually getting in their wild diet, the fact is most of them are basically opportunistic feeders and omnivorous in an aquarium setting and will do just fine if they get a quality pellet/flake, etc. plus whatever algae, bio-film, etc. they graze on or whatever treats you may add, whether veggies, brine shrimp, etc.

Just as an example, I've had several L260 plecos, which according to PlanetCatfish are "absolutely not an algae eater" eat a good bit of algae for their small size, though nothing like a rubber nose or bushynose. I've also seen plenty of big time algae eaters munching away on a dead fish in the tank-- if you visit enough lfs, you've probably seen this for yourself.

One type of pleco that does have a special requirement are the wood eating species (royal plecos, for example) that do need wood in the tank imo. Otherwise, for a lot of plecos, unless they're getting enough algae/bio-film to fill their needs, how well they do or don't do in a tank with other fish can have a lot to do with whether they are getting enough leftover food bits or, alternatively, whether you are feeding them after the tank is dark or giving them algae wafers, veggies, etc.


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