Do Butterfly Plecos NEED driftwood?

[CoreyLynn]

Hey guys! So today I bought a butterfly pleco, this little guy here -



- and I've been doing some reading. I can't seem to find a definitive answer on whether or not his species needs driftwood to survive or not. If he does, can someone please explain why? Thank you in advance!

 

[KingKoopa512]

Butterfly pleco survives on an algae diet, add plenty of vegetable matter in the aquarium, cucumber and zucchini are ideal for this. Wood should also be included in the setup as they will gnaw at this to aid their digestion.

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[Nils]

Butterfly pleco survives on an algae diet, add plenty of vegetable matter in the aquarium, cucumber and zucchini are ideal for this. Wood should also be included in the setup as they will gnaw at this to aid their digestion.

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+1

Nice fish!
All I have to add is that plecos all need fiber in their diet, and gnawing on driftwood is one way to get it. When I had my BN pleco, I used cholla wood and he loved that. Won't leach tannins and works awesome for the purpose.

 

[Cecibella123]

I can't answer the question, but that's a beautiful fish.

 

[CoreyLynn]

Thank you all for the replies and the compliments on my little pleco! My other question that I forgot to ask was - would adding driftwood to my tank change anything? Would I have to add new chemicals to balance it out, or I heard the wood leeches "tannins"? What is that?

So okay so far I'm thinking I'm going to have to get him some driftwood in the next few days. I hope he'll be okay until I can get to the store. :/

 

[Brookster123]

Wood is an excellent bed for biological growth. I can gauruntee that your pleco would thank you for the addition of wood if he had the means

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[Nils]

Thank you all for the replies and the compliments on my little pleco! My other question that I forgot to ask was - would adding driftwood to my tank change anything? Would I have to add new chemicals to balance it out, or I heard the wood leeches "tannins"? What is that?

So okay so far I'm thinking I'm going to have to get him some driftwood in the next few days. I hope he'll be okay until I can get to the store. :/

Lots of driftwoods release tannins into the water, which is basically something that lowers the pH of the water (not in a bad way, a lot of fish actually appreciate this) and turns the water kinda brown. There are Amazonian tanks that have lots of driftwood to recreate the natural habitat of the fish, in tannin heavy water. It will basically look like tea. Cholla wood doesn't release tannins, doesn't affect your pH and plecos love it.

 

[CoreyLynn]

Thank you very much for the information!

 

[Coursair]

Here is some more info. Appreciates high oxygen, so make sure there is good flow and surface agitation.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=706


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