What does a pleco eat?

[ness]

Hey guys, i just added my first fish into my tropical fresh tank YAY. One of em being a gold spot pleco who seems to be quite settled down exploring most of the 4ft tank sucking with his mouth. I am aware he is getting supplements from sucking algae and so on but is that enough? Can he get his daily fill just from that? I did place zucchini into the tank via a peg to allows it to sink to the bottom, though i dont think he knows it there, should i wave it in front of him? Also a general discussion on what pleco's eat and can eat would be great as i know little. thanks

 

[Hholly]

Most plecos enjoy a mix of veggies, algae and meaty foods like sinking pellets. Many require some driftwood in their diet.

 

[Sambo7475]

+1 to above, I use zucchini for my clown and common, and they LOVE it. Also try feeding after lights out/low, as plecos in general are nocturnal feeders.

 

[Joshfishguy]

All algea

 

[Sambo7475]

not true Josh, Plecos need more than algae to thrive. they need the veggies as described above, as well as driftwood for roughage to aid in their digestion.

 

[Joshfishguy]

Oh sorry i didn't read the petsmart guide it say green algae and plant matter also scavengers

 

[vicdad999999]

I have a clown and 2 bn's. when I first got them, they werent interested in anything i tried. now they are piglets. I use zuchini slices every 3 days (room temperature) and they come out in broad daylight within a few minutes of it hitting the bottom. http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s55/vicdad/6.jpg


here is a pic of them sharing the same rock with zuchini wrapped with rubber band attached to cooking twine as I dont like putting my hand in tanks if i dont have too. they also eat algae wafers and spirulina wafers now too. I have lots of hard woods and softwoods in there as well for them. Only took a few days to get them onto the zuchini, was doing it at night with a blue light on it so i could observe them after hours. and i think placing it in the same spot helps alot. ( i uploaded it to albums section but comes out as a red x when using the insert image button and wont allow direct link from photobucket says do not use remote images,,so its a link instead until i figure out how to use photos in a text)

 

[Amicus]

Just my two cents, how old is your tank? If it new and not established they may have a hard time finding algae to eat. If is a new tank you will have to feed them regularly to ensure they have enough to eat. You also need driftwood in the tank. I feed mine algae wafers daily, I have two plecos and they each get one. I also feed them zucchini by attaching it to the bottom of the tank and they eat it day or night. I do not blanch it and they eat it just fine. You just want to make it has enough to eat.

 

[dizzy1968]

hi,
I have a male and female bristle nose Plecos in my 180lt tank, a male albeano bristle nose in my 500lt tank, and 150 bristle nose babys in my 200lt tank,
they all have a varied diet, i give them algae tables with spiralina in them,courgette, peas, peas must be blanched and skin taken off, lettice, bloodworm, various plants and bog wood is a must.

 

[Amicus]

hi,
I have a male and female bristle nose Plecos in my 180lt tank, a male albeano bristle nose in my 500lt tank, and 150 bristle nose babys in my 200lt tank,
they all have a varied diet, i give them algae tables with spiralina in them,courgette, peas, peas must be blanched and skin taken off, lettice, bloodworm, various plants and bog wood is a must.

Yeah, plecos eat more than people might think, I think an LFS sells them as "algae eaters" to ease the worries of people. Not that they aren't a help to any tank. I haven't fed mine peas before so the blanching might be necessary. I have never blanched zucchini and they go to it right away and start eating.

 

[dizzy1968]

I don't blanch the courgette either, but yes you need to blanch and skin peas, my babies love them.

 

[Amicus]

I don't blanch the courgette either, but yes you need to blanch and skin peas, my babies love them.

I'm going to try peas, my two have started to breed too. I now have multiple generations in my tank!
Do you use frozen peas?

 

[ness]

Thanks to all the replies, all being very informative, there isnt any problem with my tank being new (cycles properly). After my pleco (sergeant ripplestomper) settled, he now find the zucchini is a flash. I also have found out that they can eat squash,brocoli, cucumber, and the occasion fish pellet