Pleco cant get to wafers

[SigEpRudy]

I recently came into a 75 gallon mixed cichlid tank with a 10" pleco. I am having trouble feeding the pleco. The cichlids devour everything I throw in there. I don't want to overfeed but also don't want that beautiful pleco to starve. There isn't much if any algae and the only thing I've seen him eat were a couple of the smaller fairy cichlids (brichardi).

I feed Aqueon floating pellets with NLS sinking pellets every 36-48 hours. These disappear in about 2 minutes. Sundays I feed shelled peas which they tear apart and give enough so that some are left on the bottom (assume pleco does get some of these). I throw in algae wafers at night sometimes but the cichlids eat them before the pleco even moves.

Ideas?

 

[loverofdogs]

Is there any way to feed the cichlids at one end of the tank and then drop the wafer at the other end of the tank? I do it to keep my betta from eating the wafer...

 

[SigEpRudy]

Not really. There are like 30 cichlids in there, 20 of which are the brichardi (under 3 inch). They are all over the tank.

 

[loverofdogs]

never mind then...I guess it works better when you only have one fish in there

 

[snowman17]

Try doing it at night

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Turn off the lights after about an hour or so throw the wafers in.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I recently came into a 75 gallon mixed cichlid tank with a 10" pleco. I am having trouble feeding the pleco. The cichlids devour everything I throw in there. I don't want to overfeed but also don't want that beautiful pleco to starve. There isn't much if any algae and the only thing I've seen him eat were a couple of the smaller fairy cichlids (brichardi). I feed Aqueon floating pellets with NLS sinking pellets every 36-48 hours. These disappear in about 2 minutes. Sundays I feed shelled peas which they tear apart and give enough so that some are left on the bottom (assume pleco does get some of these). I throw in algae wafers at night sometimes but the cichlids eat them before the pleco even moves. Ideas?

what sort of pleco is he? Maybe he isn't an algae eater? Check your water parameters, as he may be stressed due to water quality and/or the recent move. Perhaps also increase the amount of pellets you feed so the cichlids aren't ravenous. My plecos love the Thera a pellets as well as their h2o wafers.

 

[bshenanagins]

If a pleco is hungry he will come out and snatch the wafer trust me. It takes a lot for them to appear in broad daylight and food is definitely one of those triggers. Drop the wafers in at night. Try feeding the cichlids to swarm them to the pellets and drop the wafer in on the other side of the tank.

 

[CichlidLady0312]

Maybe a weighed down cucumber chunk will help.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Is the tank somewhere pitch black at night so the other fish can't see the food? Plecos can find food in the dark. Feed at night.

Another option if you must feed during the day for some reason is to get a long hollow tube, put one end next to the pleco's face and drop the food through the tube right beside him.