What will pleco's eat besides algae?

[JamesMJ2]

I have no Algae in my tank, This may be considered a good thing except the fact that I want to keep pleco's in my tank. What can I supplement for Algae to feed pleco's?

 

[targaboy78]

Hi JamesMJ2,

My Clown Pleco eats algae wafers, and every once in a while I boil a slice of zucchini and weigh it down with one of those lead plant weights. I have clipped lettuce in a vegetable clip but I never saw him go for that.

Make sure that there is driftwood in the tank, they like knawing on that for some reason.

 

[feinhorn]

I feed mine algae wafers. check this site http://www.hikariusa.com/algae_wafers.htm

 

[JamesMJ2]

Thanks for the info guys, will check it out.

 

[Guest]

Very important to supplement their diet with the foods listed above. A pleco can starve to death if not fed food just for him. Also, some types of pleaco have to have some driftwood in the tank, they nibble away at it, need the wood in their diet to help digestion.

 

[feinhorn]

One problem that I do have is trying to feed the pleco without the other fish eating his food. I almost have to distract the other fish (oscars) just to get the pleco some food. I have tried the after you turn out the lights feed method and the O's still steal his food. So it is quite a challenge. Any ideas?

 

[dsilvers]

I feed mine sinking algae wafers. But make sure it reaches them. I have a glowlight that grabs it mid sink and swims around with it in its mouth. Which is quite funny. I drop the wafer down at night when the lights are out...the pleco gets to it faster as I believe they are nocturnal

 

[RogerMcAllen]

One guy on the board bought a tube, and dropped the food down that so that nothing could get to it before it hit the bottom. Sounded like a good idea to me.

 

[dsilvers]

We did that witha frog long ago. It does work. The pleco in our 20 gal, he is big...he fends for himself. It's the smaller guy who has to sort of argue with the glowlight who carries it around like the olympic torch. He eventually drops it and the Juhli and the Pleco chow down.

 

[feinhorn]

The tube is a great idea but my pleco is scared or everything, he's young. I will try it, do you know what kind of tubing he used? The other problem that others might not have is oscars are such pigs they would gravel if it tasted good

Even after the lights go out they still know when I put pleco food in the tank. I will try the tube when ever I can get around to buying one, thanks.

 

[dsilvers]

You cn just buy a straw...don't put it down too close, just within his vicinity, ours is also skittish. I sometimes give himthe wafer while I feed the other fish in another corner. Whatever works

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I think it was just a piece of the tubing that you put the airstone in for a UGF.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

Try it with a tube or clear straw. I heard you can feed them cucumbers.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Can you do driftwood in a Cichlid tank?