What to feed Pleco?

I am getting a pleco today and was wandering what to feed it or if it will just eat the flakes I have been feeding my platy and pearl danios. Can anyone tell me what to feed it.

 

U could buy some alage wafers that sink to the bottom how long have u had your tank setup?

 

I've had it set up about 4 or 5 weeks

Will the pleco eat flakes or do I have to get the algae wafers? ???

 

You really need to get the algae wafers. Depending on what type of pleco you have, it probably is mostly a veggie eater. Most flake foods for community tanks are a little bit of this and a little bit of that which is probably okay for most fish, but plecos really need more veggie material. You can also get a veggie clip next time you go to the fish store and put slices of zucchinI in the tank for him. He will love you for it!

 

All of my Pleco's love veggies(zucchini, yellow squash), algae wafers, shrimp pellets about once a week. In other words just about anything that lays on the bottom. Also depending on what kind of Pleco it is it may need wood in the tank to rasp on. There is an ingredient in the wood they need.
Carol

 

This is a pic of my Rhino Pleco(Pterygoplichthys scorphus) enjoying a piece of zucchini. the zucchinI is about 4 inches long so you can tell about what his size is.

 

OH wow! Cool pic! Can I feed my Plecos cucumber? Just wondering. Thanks

 

OH wow! Cool pic! Can I feed my Plecos cucumber? Just wondering. Thanks

Yep, but the seeds can mess up the tank. You can pretty much feed any veggies.

 

I feed my Plecos relatively small zucchinI because the seeds are smaller and softer so the plecos tend to eat them. Haven't had much luck with cucumber because as Gunnie says the seeds make a mess. But a lot of people like them.
Carol

 

Joe what sized tank do you have? If it is something smaller than a 100 gallon tank then you won't be able to keep a common pleco because they get up to 2ft. long! But you can get a bristlenose pleco. And they only eat the wafers or vegatibles. They only eat flakes when they are STARVING!

 

Yeah I'd say go for a bristlenose pleco cause they're basically a minI version of the common. They do a great job cleaning off any algae. Mine loves the sinking wafers!

 

Hey Durbkat, I agree with you on the size of the tank part...but you can manage to maintain your common plecos size. Have you ever noticed that when you feed your fish flakes, the fish don't eat it all..and it just goes down onto the plants, drift wood, rocks, etc...and it turns your ornaments a brownish color, that's what the plecos eat....and that's why sometimes you see your pleco(if its not shy) sucking the sides of your tank. HE HE...one of my pleco sucks the connector to my filter...no wonder why he's almost 7 inches...lol

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

when plecos get to be to large for their tank, they get dissinterested in eating algae off the side of your tank and ornaments...that's when I use the wafers.

 

Well yeah I did. But I feed my guy wafers overy other day because very seldomly My fish will let food sink to the bottom. And it gets brown algae sometimes appears on the rocks and he gets that up. But that's not enough for him to survive on! > They need wafers to survive. I learned that the hard way. I had a chinese algae eate and he died within a couple weeks because no one told me you had to feed them because they would eat the brown algae which it didn't.

 

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

when plecos get to be to large for their tank, they get dissinterested in eating algae off the side of your tank and ornaments...that's when I use the wafers.

Why would you keep a pleco in a tank that was too small for him?

 

I meant if, you have a pleco that is a foot long in a 100 gal tank...they don't get interested in eating the algea, but need to be fed the wafers, or zucchini, or whatnot. I wish I had a foot long pleco. My 7 inch one is with my snakehead.

 

I totally disagree with your statement then. I am no expert, but I have friends who have been in the hobby for more than 25 years, and I have never heard or read that a pleco gets disinterested in algae once they reach a foot in length. Some may become more carnivorous as they age, but it has nothing to do with the size of the fish, or the size of the tank they are in. I have a common pleco that is at least a foot long in a 100 gal. tank, and he is constantly looking for algae in my tank. I have never had a real algae problem in that tank, and I do supplement his diet with zucchini, yellow squash, broccolli, even a sweet potato or two, but these are all vegetables, and even if I did have problem algae, he would still get the veggies. Where did you hear this?

 

Yeah why would you? If you did that would stunt the growth of the fish, which is unhealthy and it won't live much longer.

 

I've never heard that large plecos get disinterested in algae when they get bigger either. I have seen plecos that were kept in tanks that were too small become very lethargic and there fore not hunt for algae as aggressively.
Carol

 

Yikes! I think I have to many plecos for my tank...I have 1 plectomus(7inches), 1 red pleco(6 inches), a cory cat (1 inch) and I currently am adding a Beautiful Gold nugget pleco..sigh..I just can't get enough of them. I have a ten galon tank...but I make sure they all get fed properly so they won't starve 1 alga tablet per pleco and cory, twice a day. They all eat like crazy. Are they that big because I'm overfeeding them? I was told that if you have a small tank they are not supposed to grow that big. ???

 

I'm sorry Jessie but the 7in and 6 in pleco are already too big for the 10 gallon tank. Out of the others the only one who will not outgrow it in a matter of months is the cory cat. I'm glad your feeding them good but they are the size they are because plecos get to be very big fish.
Carol

 

Yikes! I think I have to many plecos for my tank...I have 1 plectomus(7inches), 1 red pleco(6 inches), a cory cat (1 inch) and I currently am adding a Beautiful Gold nugget pleco..sigh..I just can't get enough of them. I have a ten galon tank...but I make sure they all get fed properly so they won't starve 1 alga tablet per pleco and cory, twice a day. They all eat like crazy. Are they that big because I'm overfeeding them? I was told that if you have a small tank they are not supposed to grow that big. ???

Yep, you definitely have too much pleco in that tank! If you really love them, you might want to consider getting a 100 gal. tank just with plecos in it. That would be awesome!

 

I think the 100 galon tank with just Plecos is an great idea. I haven't decided about how big to get the next tank in the future. Is a 55 gallon tank to small for them also?

 

A 55 gal. would be much better for them than the 10 gallon, but I think you would have to get the bigger tank eventually. With a much larger tank in mind for the future, that would be a great temporary solution, and then when you moved them to that bigger tank, you'd have a nice 55 gal. to fill with something else! It's called MTS (multiple tank syndrome), and I think you already have the symptoms, so don't fight it!

 

I've got HikarI Tropical Algae Wafers for my pleco, who is about 4 inches long. The wafers are about the size of nickels. How much do I feed it? I've had the pleco for a couple of months and I still don't have this down. The package says to feed as much as the fish will eat in a couple of hours. Well, I feed before I go off to class and I feed before I go to sleep, so the pleco can feed in darkness. But still, sometimes he latches right onto the wafer and sucks away, other times I come back to see that there is algae matter all over the place. I've tried a whole wafer, I've tried half a wafer, I've tried a quarter of a wafer...it seems like I have to read my pleco's mind to see how much it wants to eat.

The reason why I'm concerned is because I've put my clown loaches in with my pleco, all in a bigger tank. I don't want buildup from the algae wafers to make my loaches sick (I read somewhere that they're more sensitive to water conditions because they have no scales). I'm very vigilant about vacuuming the pleco poop, but I don't want to starve the pleco if he hasn't eaten yet, but I also don't want to have the algae wafer sitting around. WHAT SHOULD I DO?! Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

 

I have 2 clown loaches and 1 rhino pleco in the 75 Gal and I drop 1 whole Omega one veggie wafer and 1 broken in 1/4's each night then turn the light out. It's always gone by morning. The clowns will eat them also. it won't hurt to leave tehm over night.
Carol

 

Dont worry your pleco won't starve he'll be eating the algae growing in you tank as well. All the fish will be eating the wafers so I'd say half to a whole one would do...

 

Hello Fish Lore,

I have a 6.5 in Common Pleco and I've been feeding him algae tablets since he was about 2 inches long. One problem with the veggie tablets were that EVERYBODY in the tank loved them, including the turtle. So I decided to drop two slices of blanched zucchinI into the tank. The only fish in the tank that paid them any attention was the Pleco. And boy, did he love zucchini. He sucked on one slice for nearly 2 hours, which leads me to my question. How long do you guys leave your zucchinI slices in the tank? Do you guys take it out even if it is not fully eaten? Or do you just throw it in and forget about it? How often and how much do you feed your Pleco?

I don't want to overfeed the Pleco and any personal experience/anecdote is appreciated.

 

I usually only leave the zucchinI in the tank a max of 2 days. Usually by that time, its almost eaten by my snails and plecos - the zucchinI starts to break down and create "threads" all over the place. I DO take out the seeds beforehand, having learned my lesson of having them all over the tank.
I feed one slice ( about 1/2 thick ) every 3 to 4 days

 

Thanks for the reply!

Do your Plecos eat the skin of the zucchini?

Also, how long do you blanche your zucchinI for? I tried the suggested 30 seconds before but the zucchinI still floated for a long time in the tank. Last night, I decided to keep boiling the zucchinI until it sinks to bottom. But after 5 minutes, they were still floating. I turned off the stove and came back after 3 minutes and they were at the bottom. This leads me to believe that I probably overdid the blanching. What is the minimum amount of time to get it to sink? Does poking holes in the zucchinI help it to sink?

 

Hi, just wanted to post to say that I feed in the same way, so ditto to what has been said

Mine chews on the skin a little but she doesn't really eat it (most of the time).

Also, I blanch mine using the microwave for one to three minutes and it sinks pretty well. Sorry for the vague interval but my boyfriend has actually been the one doing it recently so I can't remember the exact amount of time it's done for.

 

I do not blanch mine - I just skewer it on a fork and put it in the tank

 

Hello Fish Lore,

I have a 6.5 in Common Pleco and I've been feeding him algae tablets since he was about 2 inches long. One problem with the veggie tablets were that EVERYBODY in the tank loved them, including the turtle. So I decided to drop two slices of blanched zucchinI into the tank. The only fish in the tank that paid them any attention was the Pleco. And boy, did he love zucchini. He sucked on one slice for nearly 2 hours, which leads me to my question. How long do you guys leave your zucchinI slices in the tank? Do you guys take it out even if it is not fully eaten? Or do you just throw it in and forget about it? How often and how much do you feed your Pleco?

I don't want to overfeed the Pleco and any personal experience/anecdote is appreciated.

I don't have a pleco, but I do feed my fish blanch zucchini. I leave it in for 24 hours. I feed my fish once a week with the zucchini.

 

I feed my BN Pleco a slice of zucchinI with an HikarI algae wafer stuffed in it. I don't blanch it, I stick it with a fork as well. I leave it I for about 24 hours, then I put a new piece in.

 

I thought I might add, Common pleco are omnivores with a tendency to meat. Please be sure he is getting appropriate amounts of protein. Blood worms, Catfish waffers and shrimp pellets are all good methods. Though, by the looks of you stock, it doesn't really matter. Turtles don't belong in fish tanks. Cichlids don't belong with goldfish and NONE of them belong in 55gals.

 

I thought I might add, Common pleco are omnivores with a tendency to meat. Please be sure he is getting appropriate amounts of protein. Blood worms, Catfish waffers and shrimp pellets are all good methods.

Are only common pleco omnivores, or are BN plecos also omnivores?

 

Good morning,

I feed my Plecos a slice of raw zucchinI (not blanched) every morning, stuffed with an algae wafer and spirulina wafer. I use plant anchors to weight the slice so that it sinks to the bottom. Stuffing the wafers into the slice helps the Plecos to get the foods before the other fish devour it all.

Mine do not eat the green skin so the Silver Dollars come along and nibble on it. They love it.

I feed in the mornings. After 2 or 3 hours I remove any uneaten portions. Leaving the zucchinI slice in too long may well cloud your water. I left a slice in my 33g long for 24 hours and I ended up doing water changes to remove the cloud. ops:

My Sailfin Pleco can devour a 2" thick slice in very little time. (this Pleco is 10" long) For my Bristle Nose, I leave the slice in a little longer, 4 or 5 hours.

Adding driftwood to your tank will also benefit the Pleco. Driftwood aids in the digestion for this species.

You can also soak the zucchinI slice/stuffed, in Garlic Guard and Vita Chem to boost the fishes immune system and to provide extra vitamins.



Bristlenose:


Common Pleco:


Best wishes for your fish!

Ken

 

Are only common pleco omnivores, or are BN plecos also omnivores?

Most pleco are ominvores. BNs are much more inclined to veggies though, but they still eat meat.

 

My BN pleco loves shrimp pellets.

 

My BN pleco loves shrimp pellets.

Mine does too!!!

 

I thought I might add, Common pleco are omnivores with a tendency to meat. Please be sure he is getting appropriate amounts of protein. Blood worms, Catfish waffers and shrimp pellets are all good methods. Though, by the looks of you stock, it doesn't really matter. Turtles don't belong in fish tanks. Cichlids don't belong with goldfish and NONE of them belong in 55gals.

The Pleco scavenges on the bottom for uneaten fish flakes. The flakes have a pretty high protein content so I think that it is enough, although I can be wrong. (Please let me know if I am)

As for my stocking, I understand that it is unconventional. I started out with the turtle in a 10 gallon tank. A friend had kept two in a bowl on her desk at work and decided that they were getting too big. Then I moved on to a 30 gallon tank. Now I'm on a 55 gallon tank. I do have plans for a bigger tank in the future, but I can't justify the purchase on my current budget. As a compromise, I have abundant filtration on the 55g.

As for your comment on turtles not belonging in a fish tank, I'm not too sure what you mean. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more? Do you mean that turtles belong in ponds instead of aquariums? Or do you mean that turtles do not belong in a tank with fish?