Feeding Pleco's and Corries

[SteveV]

New 4 week old tank 90 gallons with L260 Pleco and one other kind 2' grows to 4", 2 Skunk Corries and 1 other Cory. I alternate several different types of wafers (Omego 1 Rounds, Xtreme Scrapers, Hikari Sinking wafers).

Couple questions. How many wafers, once per day should I feed (again 2 Pleco's about 3" each, and 3 Corries)?

Also I put the wafer in at lights out time and I know they will disintegrate. In the morning it all seems to be gone. How do I know they are eaten and not disintegrated into the water? If uneaten, would I see some left over in the substrate in the morning?

3rd question, I'd like to feed blood worms but I don't want to overfeed the tank and pollute the water, and it seems that it wold take a lot to get the bottom uneaten by my other fish. Any suggestions on this? Feed them at lights out?

 

[Andy Sager]

If you see the plecos during the day, try feeding a wafer during the day and see how long it takes to get either completely eaten or disintegrated. This way you will know if you should see something in the morning when you feed during lights out time. That will also tell you how many wafers you should feed. I would also add a shrimp or worm based pellet or food for the skunk cories. They need meat in their diet.

As for feeding bottom fish, I like to use a turkey baster so I can gently blow the food down close to the fish I want to eat it. This also helps avoid over feeding.

Hope this helps.

 

[SteveV]

Yeah the problem is the plecos don't come out to eat during the day. I just tried putting 4 Omega1 wafers at the bottom, at light out and check in for over 2 hours and neither pleco came out to eat but I did see the cory's at least around the food and in the morning most of the wafers were gone. So something is eating, I guess. I just want to figure out if the plecos are eating and what they like, but I can't ever see them eat to know for sure.

 

[Andy Sager]

Yeah the problem is the plecos don't come out to eat during the day. I just tried putting 4 Omega1 wafers at the bottom, at light out and check in for over 2 hours and neither pleco came out to eat but I did see the cory's at least around the food and in the morning most of the wafers were gone. So something is eating, I guess. I just want to figure out if the plecos are eating and what they like, but I can't ever see them eat to know for sure.

Why not try a chunk of Zucchini or cucumber? This way you will be able to see marks where they were feeding and it won't disintegrate overnight.