How Long Should I Leave My Albino Bn Pleco In The Qt Tank Without Driftwood And No Algae?

Do you think it'd be ok to move my BN Pleco into the main tank tomorrow? I'm worried he's not getting enough to eat in the QT and his driftwood is in the main tank cause it's too big for the QT. I tried feeding him a bit of an with zucchinI put I don't think he ate very much at all. There's no algae at all in the QT.
I got him/her on Friday with some other fish. None have shown any signs of illness yet, except one Ember Tetra is just not doing well, but I don't take it to seriously as it's a tetra.
I don't wanna put my other fish at risk, but don't want this little guy/girl dying because there isn't enough to eat and no driftwood.

 

He will eat algae wafers when he gets truly hungry. I've still never seen a healthy fish starve himself to death with food in the tank.

 

Ok, thanks for the reassurance. I'll try an algae wafer again tomorrow or some boiled zucchinI and see if it'll eat. I even left it in overnight and pretty much all of it was there in the morning. I might need to reevaluate this Albino BN Pleco thing...

 

I just did a water change on the tank and oh my gosh! There was so much poop! Most of that had to be from the Pleco. I don't think 8 tiny little Ember tetras and 2 little Peacock Gudgeons could produce half of how much there was.

 

How did you prepare the Zuchini? I remember hearing from DoubleDutch that they are omnivorous. It makes sense since most of the "algae" in the wild is filled with worms and insect larvae. I have no first hand experience with bristlenose plecos but I have had with Otocinclus which have the fame of being picky eaters. I threw spinach inside and it took him about a day before he started eating. When he finally started eating he would eat any veggie I threw in. One day he sucked in a piece of tilapia and since that day he also became addicted to tilapia. I also think bristlenoses don't need wood but I may be wrong.

 

I boiled it till it was soft.

 

How long did you leave the zucchinI in the tank?

 

Overnight.

 

Try leaving it for at least a day. I have left veggies for days in a row without them afecting my water quality. He should eventually creep out on it and start eating.

 

He has actually been very active, moving all over the tank day and night. I saw him eat a little bit of the algae wafer, but I went to bed after that. In the morning almost all of it was still there. There was a ton of poop in the tank when I did a water change this evening and I know a lot of it has to be from him/her. I put another piece of zucchinI in and we'll see if any is eaten in the morning. I will say I am concerned about how much they poop. He's so tiny and is literally a poop machine. People say Goldfish are bad, but they are nothing compared to these guys.

 

Definitely leave in the QT tank for at least 2 weeks. I always QT for at least 4-6 weeks. My last batch of platy's came down with ICH 10 days AFTER I had them in my QT tank. So things can happen quickly and not necessarily in the first week you have them. Better to be safe than sorry.
Just keep feeding what you have been doing - believe me, they will not starve themselves ( unless they are sick ) and will eventually find that what you have in there is food. If they are not accustomed to eating wafers, they probably do not realize what it is yet. Be patient.

 

Thanks. I will admit patience is not even close to one of my strong points, but I definitely don't want to introduce anything into my already established tank. Hopefully he'll do ok without the driftwood, or I might break down and buy him a little piece for the OT tank . lol

 

Well the Ember Tetra just died. Glad I quarantined everyone and resisted the urge to add the Pleco to the main tank. I really wanted to add him/her yesterday.
Hopefully this isn't just the beginning of something.

 

Well the piece of zucchinI I put in there last night is gone! I mean I can't find any of it. I guess the Pleco and/or the other fish loved it.

 

Well the piece of zucchinI I put in there last night is gone! I mean I can't find any of it. I guess the Pleco and/or the other fish loved it.