Not sure if bulldog pleco is eating

[Orlon11]

I got my bulldog pleco two weeks ago, and I haven't seen him eat anything yet.

He does not seem interested in the algae wafers (they are mostly gone after a day or two, but that may be the shrimps eating them).

I keep putting in spinach and zucchini but he barely touches them. He does seem to have eaten the skin off two slices of zucchini.

I read that you can tell if a pleco is too skinny by checking for a sunken stomach but he doesn't come to the glass. He mostly shuffles around on or behind this one rock.

Does he look like he is healthy? Am I just worrying for nothing? This little guy is so cute, I want him to do well!

Sorry about the photo quality, I can try to get better pics with my camera if he comes out again.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Have you watched him at night? My BN pleco is much more active after the lights go out.

 

[jestes]

What is your water temp, and where did you get him from? Sometimes those guys are hard to acclimate to captivity.

 

[Angelbreeder]

Looks fine to me he'll be moving at night try some floating plants to shade him from bright light

 

[Orlon11]

The tank is at about 75-76 degrees. He came from the LFS; no idea about before then, although they claim to quarantine all fish before selling them.

 

[jestes]

If they quarantine, that's good. Most LFS's don't. These fish come from relatively cool, fast flowing water, and it's not too uncommon for them to starve after the transition to captive life. Has he come to the glass yet?

 

[gilpi]

These fish are big eaters and big poopers, so just look for the extra poop on the bottom of the tank, that should give you a clue whether it's eating or not. And if you have bog wood in your tank, it should be munching on it.

 

[Orlon11]

Update: I was just feeding my fish and the plec got all excited so I threw in an algae wafer - and sure enough a few minutes later he was munching away at it!

So I guess he's eating

 

[Brookster123]

Pleco's can take a few days to a week or two too get comfy and feed in the light.. He's def eating at night though, the more you see during the day the more comfy he's getting in your tank!