Feeding Courgette To My Bristlenose Plecs

[BINKSY]

Hi every one

i got some fresh courgette to feed my bristlenose plecs, can i feed it fresh or do i need to cook it or anything



Cheers Gordon

 

[Teelie]

I feed mine their cucumber raw and they like it that way. Just make sure it's washed and clean of any pesticides.

 

[vic]

Just remove the seeds, if any, insert a fork between the skin and the flesh and blanch (boil) for several minutes in a sauté pan. Let cool and drop in. Leave no more than 24 hours. You can also use orange, cucumber and most lettuces. Certainly not ridecio etc.

 

[Bravo2zero_sps]

Just remove the seeds, if any, insert a fork between the skin and the flesh and blanch (boil) for several minutes in a sauté pan. Let cool and drop in. Leave no more than 24 hours. You can also use orange, cucumber and most lettuces. Certainly not ridecio etc.

Can it be fed raw as well or does it have to be boiled?

 

[LisaLQ]

It can be fed raw. All I do is cut off a length of courgette, wash it, slice off the skin along one side (ie dont remove it all as they like to eat it), stick a spoon through it and drop it in. Any seeds, if any, that float off - my other fish eat

I've found my plecs also like a slice of sweet potato now and again.

 

[Bravo2zero_sps]

Thanks Lisa, from your above reply I am guessing you use the spoon to sink the food? I put raw courgette in tonight and its floating so just about to take that out and throw it. Have boiled a slice thinking that would make it sink but I am guessing thats going to float too now. I don't have a spare spoon for the fish tank, the Mrs will kill me if she finds me using our dining cutlery in the fish tank

 

[DarkEntity]

use anything, it doesnt matter, a stone, piece of wood, plant lead weight....

 

[Nina]

I don't even bother with the whole sinking thing.

In my big tank I throw them in whole and let the plecs skin and eat them, in the smaller tanks, the courgette/cucumber just gets cut into about 4/5 inches long and dropped in.

The plecs seem quite happy to hang off it while eating it.

Bear in mind if it is the first time that you have put it in the tank it may take a while for them to actually find it and get used to it. With us, at first the big plecs would take a couple of days to eat half a cucumber but now a whole on goes in at night and it is usually gone by next morning.

 

[LisaLQ]

Thanks Lisa, from your above reply I am guessing you use the spoon to sink the food? I put raw courgette in tonight and its floating so just about to take that out and throw it. Have boiled a slice thinking that would make it sink but I am guessing thats going to float too now. I don't have a spare spoon for the fish tank, the Mrs will kill me if she finds me using our dining cutlery in the fish tank

I am the Mrs in my house, I'm just not that house proud

Yep I use a spoon - depending on how big a piece you're putting in, either a teaspoon or a dessertspoon. Stick the handle through the courgette, leaving the spoon bit sticking out - otherwise you'll split the courgette.

Incidentally, I found out my plecs like sweet potato too:

You can see what I mean about slicing some of the skin off along the length in this pic:

You dont really need to do it as most plecs will eat the skin too - but I think they prefer to be able to get into it straight away sometimes

If you've only got a little plec, or a baby, then you can always put it in like this - with some plant lead weight:

Rusty (on the right) was tiny back then lol - he's the one on the glass in the pic before that one so you can see he's grown a bit! The other little fella was my L144 (black eyed gold ancistrus) - RIP

 

[Bravo2zero_sps]

Thanks for the replies and the pm from Steve about the corkscrew thing. I didn't realise you could put as much in as some on here have said they do. I only cut off the thinest of slices and dropped it in. Oh and boiling the second slice for 90 seconds meant it sank. After all that neither of the two plecs seem to have taken any notice of it (red tailed balck shark has been nibbling), but then my sailfin doesn't appear to be the brightest bulb in the box perhaps he/she may realise what it is by the morning. How long should it be left in there before being removed if not eaten?

 

[LisaLQ]

I wouldn't leave courgette in more than 24 hours, but to be honest, it's usually in my tank it's either all gone by morning, or mostly gone and the rest floating round my tank - so I just pull it out then

 

[SuperColey1]

I use the old fashione 'T' shaped corkscrew and then 'thread' on a piec of courgette and chuck it in. sinks and is normally finished by the 2 commons by the morn, at whic time I get the magnet cleaner out and drag it to the top, so don't have to get my hands too wet