Help feeding my Pleco

[Matman1110]

Hey,
I recently got a small pleco for my 47 gallon tall tank of african cichlids. The pleco is about 3.5 inches in length. He seems to be doing well so far over the last few days sucking algae off the glass. Today i purchased some algae wafers and wasnt sure how much to feed him and how often. The wafers are about the size of a dime.

Tonight i dropped in 4 of those wafers, and my pleco hasnt even noticed one of them. Even one of my large cichlids swallowed one of them whole. And my other cichlids have been pecking at the others.

Is there a special way to feed the pleco these wafers?
Exactly how many wafers should i give him and how often?
Do i need to turn off the light for him to feed?

Thanks in advance

 

[tarpon]

4 wafers is wayyyyyyy too much. My bristlenose doesn't even finish one. Just drop one in there and remove whats left in a few hours. It might take him a while to know they're food. You can try feeding with the lights off it should help. If you do this you can just take out the remaining food in the morning. He might not eat them if there's lots of algae.

You can also feed blanched veggies. Cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon.

If its a common pleco I suggest getting rid of it now and replacing it with a smaller variety.

 

[HN1]

^ good advice. I would caution you about keeping a pleco in an african tank though. I have seen a lot of one-eyed or blind plecos and their preferred water conditions are much different. .

 

[Matman1110]

o man was i wrong. thanks for the advice. it is a common pleco, r they supposed to swallow these wafers whole or just nibble/suck on them? If its the former i should probly get new wafers. What sizes do the wafers come in? Im kinda afraid tho cuz my fish seem to like them. anything smaller then they would probly be able to swallow them.

 

[tarpon]

Don't worry.
But commons can get 2 feet long. You could get a bristlenose or a rubberlip. They are common in petshops and get around 5-6 inches max.

And the wafers are fine, they'll just kinda suck/munch on the side and it can be hard to tell they're eating it sometimes. Just make sure its belly isn't caved in so you know its getting enough food.

 

[BillD]

I have found if you are using vegetables, blanching causes cloudy water very quickly. I feed romaine, melon rind, sliced brocoli stalks, peas, squash, sweet potato and carrot. I don't bother with cucumber as it is so low in nutritional value.
As far as algae wafers go, my bristlenose easily eat more than one, and they don't turn quickly. because of the nature of their digestive tract plecos need to eat a lot, which also makes them messy. My 4 BNs will clean off a large honey dew rind, with a 1/2" or more of the melon still on it in a day. Same with a similar piece of water melon rind.

 

[Matman1110]

^ good advice. I would caution you about keeping a pleco in an african tank though. I have seen a lot of one-eyed or blind plecos and their preferred water conditions are much different. .

thanks for the reply. My pleco seems to be doing very well. The other fish dont really even notice him. He spends alot of time on a rock which he blends in perfectly with. The other fish just swim right over him completely oblivious. Also do common plecos have a small white dot on each eye?

 

[zparticle]

As far as algae wafers go, my bristlenose easily eat more than one, and they don't turn quickly. because of the nature of their digestive tract plecos need to eat a lot, which also makes them messy.

That is so weird, I have two and they won't touch wafers and they don't eat much at all, other than cleaning the glass and ornaments in the tank. Both have grown quite a bit in the short time I've had them and they seem healthy and happy. Maybe it's because mine are albinos.