L260 Behaviour & Tips For Food

[sophos9]

Hi

My new L260 has found a spot near the spraybar, in a crevice on the backing of the tank. He has been there for about a day now and I'm a lil bit worried that he is not eating?? On the menu tonight is cucumber, an algae wafer and bloodworm - no movement from him...

Is this normal behaviour and is there any worries of him not eating?

Cheers

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi sophos9

Congrats on the new plec. These small plecs are generally very shy and take a while to settle in nicely. Expect no eating for about a week. But still put food in for him/her so they know there is always food. With Arabesques, only a few will eat veggies and with my two, they only occasionally come out for the bloodworm's too. But frozen prawns or shrimps from your local super market are a huge favorite with these guys. You can keep them in the freezer for a few months and defrost one or two once a week for a while. They LOVE them.

They prefer to come out at night, but eventually do settle down and come out while the lights are on. Although that may take months.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Carmen

 

[sophos9]

Hi Carmen, thanks for the help... I guess I had an exception with my other Arabesque as she would be out loads over the day and night.

So just any prawn or shrimp will do fine? Will try that tonight and see what happens. Had noticed he had moved around the tank overnight, I've also turned down the brightness of the moonlights just incase

Great, lets see how he settles in!

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi sophos9

yes, any shrimp or prawn. I bought the small shrimps from Asda in the frozen section and fed them to my two. To defrost, just put a bit of tank water in a container and plop the shrimp you'll be putting in the tank. They only take a few minutes to defrost. Just squeeze it when you put it in your tank, so it absorbs a bit of the tank water and it'll sink nicely.

But, you may need more if your other fish take a fancy to the shrimp. Our cories, tetras and whiptails all went mad for them, as well as the BN and loaches. So if you have fish you think may take a liking to them as well, add another one or two. I generally take out what hasn't been eaten after about 36-48 hours. The plecs like to take their time. For the first few weeks, once a week should be fine. There after try space them out more, about every 10-14 days. They put on weight really quickly with the meat.

Try placing one really close to your little guy. That way, he won't have to feel too insecure to leave looking for food. Gradually place the food further away and eventually he will come looking.

Good luck and hope your gorgeous little man settles in. I saw the pic of him on your other thread and he is stunning. Sorry about you losing your little girl. She was also a very nice looking L260.

Speak soon
Carmen

 

[sophos9]

Cool.... thanks for the tip! In between prawns, what does the Arabesque live on or is it the prawn that keeps them going?

Cheers...

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

My two absolutely go mad for Hikari Sinking wafers (orange pack) and JMC catfish pellets. Almost every feed they come out and my male will normally swim out and wait just before I feed them. It's too cute. The female just barges out and whips them all around. She doesn't hurt anyone.

Good luck.

Speak soon
Carmen

 

[sophos9]

I've just ordered them and will give em a try. Currently I use TetraPlecomin which they did not seem to get excited about, think its cus they are vegetable based, they like the loach sinkers loads

What times and how often do you feed?

Many thanks....

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi again

When I first got the L260's, I fed once in the morning and once in the afternoon, just to make sure they'd get something. But once they started eating properly, it reduced it to once a day. If they're out in the morning, I feed then, otherwise it's at night.

I've tried the algae eating disks, and they didn't get too excited about them. They are a meat eater, so prefer meat.

My female Arabesque LOVES blanched potato. When I've put that in, she's all over it. The male, not too interested. But she also eats blanched cucumber and courgette. You can only try a few things and see. Obviously with the veggies, you don't leave them too long. A day at the most (if it lasts that long). Potato I only leave overnight.

Keep well and speak soon
Carmen

 

[Oscar07]

i've got an arabasque too. She hide's in the bogwood in the middle of the tank i spotted the other day.

usually feed her once a week with Bloodworm. How could i try cucumber? is it just a case of putting a bit in the tank?

S

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

I normally cut a piece about 1cm thick, blanche it (soften it a bit by boiling it for a couple of minutes) and then use a bamboo skewer and spear it to the bottom of the tank. Don't leave more than a day, as it falls apart easily and pollutes quickly. As I said above, not all L260's will eat veggies. Most seem to prefer meat rather than veggies.

You're lucky yours eat blood worms. My 2 come out, have maybe one and go back to bed. Not terribly excited by them much.

Good to see we have a nice little group of Arabesque lovers on the forum. They're such great little plecs.

 

[whambamtymam]

hey congrats on your new pleco.

yea i have a problem with feeding the plecs too. Is it fine if the sinking tablets are too big for the plecs mouth? my kinda just sucks on the tablet but the tablet size doesnt seem to be getting smaller.

 

[sophos9]

Hi Carmen, thanks for your help

Today I had the delivery of Hikari and JMC so fingers crossed he will enjoy. Tried a prawn in the tank, did not see him touch it but the American Flag Fish enjoyed it!

He is still very shy so guess its a matter of time now before he is confident enough...

Thanks for your help

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi whambamtymam

It doesn't matter if the disks are too big for the plecs mouth. They tend to suck on their food, rasping small bits off each time to eat. Even if the food is small enough to fit in their mouths, they'll rasp bits off from that too. The sinking tablets and disks normally take a while to break down, so even if you can't actually see anything missing, if they've been sucking on it, they've probably had some then.


Great stuff sophos9

It is hard to know with these guys whether they eat anything in the beginning. I didn't actually see mine eat for the first few weeks, I just dropped the food pretty close or on top of him and left it at that. Time and patience with these little guys will eventually be rewarded with a confident plec who come out in search of food.

I find my cories also go ballistic for the prawns. My panda's were the worst, actually pulling bits off. Our cardinals who often hide away come out to rip chunks too.

Just drop one of the Hikari disks. They take a while to break up properly, so the fish take a while to eat them. The JMC pellets break down easily, but I don't put too many of them either.


Speak soon
Carmen