Anyone help me find away to ensure my Pleco eats. I have stopped feeding my fish in the morning and now feed them in the evening as I hear this is a better time for the Pleco to eat. So I try to make sure all other fish are distracted eating their food and put the Pleco's wafer in his fav hiding place but my goldies still find it I think, as in the morning its gone and today when I feed my other fish they weren't as hungry as usual so I have a feeling most of them eat the algae wafer from the night before. I took algae wafer out tonight because as soon as the fish had ate their flakes despite eating slower than normal and less enthusiastic about it they still went over and started nibbling at the Pleco's Algae wafer so I took it out, cause I'm worried they are going to overeat. I only feed my fish once a day, I generally feed my fish flake food, with peas,bloodworms and brine shrimp one a week as a treat.
Other fish eating my Pleco's aglae wafer what do i do? Pleco is newest member to tank
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Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
Have you tried adding after lights out? Pleco's go to work at night!
Yeah that's what I did for the first time last night, but I just found it werid that my fish today weren't as hungry as usual when it came to feeding them and I have a feeling its because they ate his wafer. They are very greedy esp my oranda and black moor. Who are with some temperate fish at mo till I get a tropical tank up and running then im thinking of moveing the pleco in with the temperate fish and perhaps it will be easier then. As I plan to leave my oranda and moor on their own in the 40gallon tank I have up and running already. I will try again tomorrow night and put half a wafer in perhaps and do it once ive turnt the light off and have fed the other fish just before that. My pleco is new to the tank, I got him on sunday so I know they can take a little time sometimes and may not eat for first couple of days. But im hopeing he is hovering up any bits left over at nighttime, I took wafer out tonight Il put a half of one in and see what happens tonight. The algae wafers are high in protein and im just a little worried cause I heard that's not too good for Black Moors if they have too much.
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
Well, Pleco's and goldfish don't freaky work together as goldfish are bottomless pits and will most always out compete Pleco's for food.. That bring said, maybe think about moving done fish around sooner than later..
Well online it says they can live perfectly well together and they like cold temperatures its a Hongkong Pleco. I am planning on moving him into the tropical tank however as I feel you are right he is being out competed although I cant be def on this as I feed at nighttime and in the morning his food is gone so who knows whos eating it, but I feel it is likely to be the goldys
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
please forgive the typo in my previous post, "freaky" was not my choice.. I did not mention temp, only the issue with your Pleco getting proper nourishment. Maybe sneaky feeding? Put food in a place only your Pleco can retrieve??
Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
When you do put the food in after lights out, are you waiting an hour or 2 after the lights go out? Your fish will stay active for awhile after lights out. So turning the lights off then dropping the food in a few mins later will not ensure the pleco gets it.
henningc
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Hide the food in a cave, turned over flower pot with a crack for the pleco to get in
That is a great idea, my hongkong pleco is a hillstream loach, I am setting up a tropical tank soon to remove all my temperature fish from my coldwater tank into their own 3ftx1ftx1ft tank, so that my two goldies have the 40 gallon tank to themselves. I was thinking of moving the Loach over too but I know they need cool tempertures so I am torn as It means I would have to have a low heated tropical tank and I want my platys at the same time to reach their full potential and colouring which ive heard they do it slightly warmer temperatures so are more suited to Tropical tanks. But the temperature fish I have 4 Danios, 3 minnows, 2 platys don't bother much with the Loaches food so why Id like to move him over too, I could also get a faster moving filter which minnows and Loach like and also do you think If I move him in to the Tropical Tank size wise I could get him a friend as they only grow to 5cm max and I just read they are happier in groups. I really wish I had done more research before I brought him lfs are useless when it comes to giving advice. I worry I may have to get him a species only tank and im running out of room in my flat. Thanks for the tip though I will try again tomorrow night waiting a little longer after lights out and putting wafer inside haunted house as fancies wont fit through hole and only delboy one of my platys sleeps in there. He's pretty greedy aswell but shows much less interest.
hi guys
just wanted to update on my Hongkong Pleco aka Hillstream Loach, ive had him a week and a half now and some natural algae has grown on back of coldwater tank and he is Hoovering it up and seems to love it. He seems to eat more during the day and more active which I thought was weird cause they are suppose to be nocturnal. He sleeps down side of filter at night goes their every eve and hangs out on smooth giant skull I have during the day which seems to be his favourite.
I think im going to leave him in the coldwater tank with the two goldies, filter is at max 570phr and long term it will be him 2 fantails and a friend for him. I am going to get a bubble machine aswell as both Hillstream and Goldies love a well oxygenated tank. 40gallon tank I have.
any comments feel free Hill stream Loaches grow to a max 5cm.
just wanted to update on my Hongkong Pleco aka Hillstream Loach, ive had him a week and a half now and some natural algae has grown on back of coldwater tank and he is Hoovering it up and seems to love it. He seems to eat more during the day and more active which I thought was weird cause they are suppose to be nocturnal. He sleeps down side of filter at night goes their every eve and hangs out on smooth giant skull I have during the day which seems to be his favourite.
I think im going to leave him in the coldwater tank with the two goldies, filter is at max 570phr and long term it will be him 2 fantails and a friend for him. I am going to get a bubble machine aswell as both Hillstream and Goldies love a well oxygenated tank. 40gallon tank I have.
any comments feel free Hill stream Loaches grow to a max 5cm.
fishywishywowoo
Aquarium Advice Activist
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I have this with my wcmm eating my 4 loaches sinking pellets. I know break the pettets up into 4 smaller pieces and scatter in. The loaches are now atarting to push the wcmm out the way. It took them a few week to get confident. Now they like little nutters chasing each other round the tank. They love high power oxygen bubbles x
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I have a placo in my tank with gold fish also. Placo 13.5 in largest gold 3.5-4 in. Just put them all in new 75gal tank this month with albino frogs and blk mollies. What helps with the feeding that I do is throw in a leaf of lettece or two, the end part even ends if not a full cucumber every once in a while. Plus flakes or whatever you feed them and everyones happy. Except maybe me when it came to the flack in the water from them eating it. It has also distracted them from picking on plant in tank soon to hopefully add more.
0xxKyleexx0
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Try moving the algae wafer into a spot where only the algae eater can get it. I've had problems with this before. 
I have goldfish and plecos in the same tank. I used to have 2 large common plecos with 4 large goldfish. I attached pictures so you can see. I rarely fed my plecos algae wafers. They always got cucumbers or squash (sometimes spinach or red leaf lettuce too) and they were very healthy. When I did give them algae pellets, I did it at the same time as I fed the goldfish and usually right by the plecos. They always latched onto it before the goldfish.
That said, I had to get rid of them after a water quality issue that killed 2 goldfish and left the other two with swim bladder issues. Before 1 could recover, my large and otherwise gentle pleco attached to it and ended up killing it. My understanding is that plecos like the "taste" of the slime coating. Since then, my remaining goldfish seemed nervous of them. Since I felt that she would always be waiting for another opportunity, and didn't have another tank to put them, I got rid of them.
I currently have a grown bristle nose pleco in the tank which seems much more gentle. So far so good.
That said, I had to get rid of them after a water quality issue that killed 2 goldfish and left the other two with swim bladder issues. Before 1 could recover, my large and otherwise gentle pleco attached to it and ended up killing it. My understanding is that plecos like the "taste" of the slime coating. Since then, my remaining goldfish seemed nervous of them. Since I felt that she would always be waiting for another opportunity, and didn't have another tank to put them, I got rid of them.
I currently have a grown bristle nose pleco in the tank which seems much more gentle. So far so good.
Attachments
Update on hillstream loach
I have learnt alot more about this little species he is now living happily in a 27gallon coldwater tank with 3danios, 4 minnows, and 2 other loaches. They have rocks to sit on and a powerhead given them a good current in the water and they eat cucumber alot. THEY seem happy although i still have only ever seen them eat cucumber but they are going strong.
I have learnt alot more about this little species he is now living happily in a 27gallon coldwater tank with 3danios, 4 minnows, and 2 other loaches. They have rocks to sit on and a powerhead given them a good current in the water and they eat cucumber alot. THEY seem happy although i still have only ever seen them eat cucumber but they are going strong.
Thanks i have found that weighing down my cucumber for them encourages them to eat it. I leave during day and over one night so they get a good munch on it. I will try a clip for an algae wafer. i was thinking of changing my gravel to sand so would be easier for the hillstream loach to go to the bottom of the tank. At the mo they stick to one half of the tank, i have a powerhead half way along and rocks and a skull they sit on them and enjoy the water movement. The reason i dont have the powerhead at the end of tank is so my danios and minnows get a restbite from the powerhead if they dont want to swim against the tide but it does mean my hillstream loach favour one end of the tank. They rarely go on the bottom of the tank cause i have gravel.
I would love a Pleco they look soo cool but i heard they get massive and since i only have a 42 gallon tank with two fancies already in there i dont think it would be wise to get one. Although im thinking of ungradeding my goldie tank when my other tank species live out there lifespan i know goldies live alot longer than my other tank species. I have two 3ft long tanks and i live in a flat so longterm ideally i want to have one massive tank. I have learnt that fancy goldfish are my fancy fish. So i dont replace the fish in my other tank now if one dies as i want to eventually lose the second tank but are going to let my current tank species happily live out there lives now and il get rid of the tank when i have noone left. If i am eventually left with just minnows i will put them in the goldie tank so noone is left alone at the end of there life.
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