3 plecos that I've had for at least 6 years now

[dhoward]

I have 3 plecos that I've had for at least 6 years now. I've had them since they were babies (less than an inch long) and now they are each at least 12 inches long. What I'm trying to find out is this- I used to live near a major pet supply store (I don't know if I can use the name so I won't, but it's one of the ones you hear about all the type if you own any kind of pet) anyways, I used to buy my plecos frozen bloodworms for them as a treat in addition to their regular food of algea chips and flake fish food. The problem is I've moved and there is no place around that sells specialty fish products. I do however live near a lake where minnows and nightcrawlers are sold as fish bait for fisherman. I don't think my plecos will eat minnows, but will they eat the nightcrawlers? I know I talk to much but thanks to anybody out there who read all this.

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

Personally I wouldn't introduce anything into my tanks that came directly from the wild due to too much potential for contamination.

you can get frozen foods shipped to you since you no longer have an LFS near you. fosterandsmithaquatics.com often has good sales on this stuff and shipping rates aren't horrible.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome to AA. Let`s move this to the FW forums where more people will see it. Not everyone comes to the welcome wagon here.

 

[dkpate]

Shipping frozen food still costs about $25, no matter where you get it from. Do you ever go into a town where they have the pet stores? If so, you can get one of those hot/cold bags for about $4, get the frozen food, and keep them in those bags until you get home. That's what I had to do when I lived 1.5 hours from the nearest pet store.

 

[summit]

You can give them treats from your own veggie drawer in your fridge as well, pleacos love sweet potato, zuchinni, kale, peeled/mashed peas, mushrooms etc as well, sweet potato seems to be the favorite, give it a try, I would bet they will devour ths stuff, and may like it even better than what you were feeding before.

 

[reefdiver]

how do you prep the sweet potato?

 

[dkpate]

Boil it? Then peel it? *shrug*

 

[summit]

how do you prep the sweet potato?

Just peel some skin off, and blanch it a bit, or you can feed it raw, and remove after 24 hours so it does not foul the tank, you will have to weight it down with something though. They make something called a screwcumber that works great for this, you can pull it up on a web search.

 

[dhoward]

Thanks everyone. I didn't know that nightcrawlers sold in the stores where wild, I figured they farmed them or something, but I will try the veggies. I just like spoiling my fish a little every now and then, kindof like I do all my pets (dogs, cats, ducks, kids, ect.)