Is my bn pleco getting enough food?

I have 2 plecos in my tank a juvenile albino sailfin as well as a stardust bn pleco. Just for context my sailfin pleco is about 3 inches in length while my bn pleco is barely 1 inch.
Whenever I feed my plecos I only ever see the sailfin swim over and eat the algae wafers.
I'm not sure if my stardust is getting enough food or has just been bullied by my sailfin from eating the wafers. Is there any signs I should be looking out for if my pleco is not getting enough food?

I'm trying to feed more but I'm still unsure if my sailfin is the one eating up all the wafer bits.

 

bristlenoses are very shy, once you leave the room only then they come out to eat. Plecos are capable of finding their own food in a tank and in a big enough one you will never have to feed it.

 

My guess is it is probably eating. Best bed is feed the wafers shirtly before you turn the tank lights off for the night.

 

How long have you had the smaller Pleco? Most Plecos that I have had have been very shy and hide an awful lot for a couple of months when I first got them. They all eventually have come out and been out in the tank to see after a bit.

I bought a couple of BN Plecos for my 55 gallon almost a year ago and one was very outgoing and all over the tank right from the start, but the other one was much shyer and took a while to start showing up regularly. For a good 2 months, I had some of the same concerns as you. Is he eating? Is he even still alive? I did find that I could see him moving around a little in the evening when it was darker. And eventually, he was out almost all the time and I saw him actually eating.

One thing you can do is to put some veggies like cucumber, zucchini, spinach, etc. on a clip on the side of your tank and then he should eat that some. You probably will even see him on it like this:




Since I had the 2 BNs that I bought together in the same tank, I actually bought 2 clips and put them at opposite ends of the tank to ensure that they wouldn't fight over the same food. You can get these clips pretty cheap on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SLSON-Seawee...8110&sprefix=veggie+clips+aqu,aps,1180&sr=8-3

As you start to see him more, you can then ensure that he is getting protein for his diet too. I typically make sure to get some sinking food to land around him or if I can't see him, in various places in the tank.

Finally, (sorry for the long post), make sure to have driftwood in the tank. That is important to help them in their digestion.

 

Thanks for the detailed advices everyone
Yes I think my bn is most likely just shy I've only gotten it for slightly over a week.

Update: apparently my sailfin hoards food as well (caught it dragging 3 pieces of wafer to opposite end of the tank so that my bn doesn't get it)

 

I would suggest you decide which fish is the best to keep and just keep one of them as Sailfins often kill Bristlenoses (and any other pleco in the tank) as they are both territorial.

The Sailfin grows very very large unless stunted in a tank that is too small. I think an 8ft tank might be best as mine outgrew my 6 foot tank. It's probably an unsuitable fish for most people and why Bristlenoses are most often recommended instead. However, in the right tank its a very satisfying fish to keep and mine was quite tame, feeding from my hand.