Night Feeding Pleco - Advice Needed!

[Leila2]

I have 4 different types of plecos ( in 2 different tanks ) and one that I got a few weeks ago is a varient of a zebra pleco (brown) that is about 3 inches long and really beautiful. However I never really get to see any more than its tail poking out from the cave it resides in! (It shifts slightly from time to time). I hardly even see the point of this pleco when I never get to see it! I did read that this is an especially shy species. Presumably it is feeding at night but I don't like to leave food in the tank for long lengths of time incase it contaminates the water so I am not sure what is the right way to make sure the pleco will be fed sufficiently. When I have left some pleco pellets in the tank overnight there is still a lot left in the morning, which urgently needs removing.

 

[JenCliBee]

Variant of a zebra pleco?, there isn't any apart from maybe 173 but that's under much scrutiny lol.

What are you feeding, meat source pellets, algae source pellets?, really the species would ideally need to be known to suggest if the pellets are actually the right thing to be feeding. That would determine weather he/she is eating them or not eating them.

 

[skippy_49nz]

The first thing which sprang to my mind was a chocolate zebra. Chances are if it truely is related to a zebra then it is some variety of hypan. I have found them to be really shy and they tend to not eat for the first week or so when I get them until they settle in.

You do really need to know the species you have to know what to feed it successfully. If by pleco pellets you mean the spirulina things then many hypans on't touch them unless they are about to starve to death... and even then probably not. First off make sure you are feeding something that it will eat.

Second, I feed mine just before lights out. Go for less food rather than more. I have found the meaty foods my hypans eat tends to mess up the water quicker than the spirulina based foods for the other plecos and in the beginning I lost a few due to an accumulation of uneaten food building up under objects in the tank.

They can survive for a week without food without any problems so by only putting a little food in you don't run the risk of them starving as long as they are in good condition. I don't know what your tank is like but if there is relatively little water flow then you should hopefully be able to see if anything is coming out the other end of your fish. If it is, it must be eating something. This is a very crude but effective way to know that all is well. As the saying goes... what goes in must come out.

I'm guessing that its like mine and there is no chance of catching it sucking on the glass to check how well fed it looks. Is there any way to arrange the tank so that you can get a better view of it than you currently do? I have some king tigers in with my chocolate zebras and I can feed them quite a large amount now and its gone by morning. The last time I really fed them up big I found a stray egg floating in the tank. I can see a few of them where they hide in silhouette and i can see they have nice porky little bellies so I'm satisfied they are eating really well. Is there any chance of arranging anything to be able to do this as well?

You are right that they are a dead loss fish and you pay a bundle for them only to never see them. I don't know why we like them. Like the Webber Bros circus guy said, there's a sucker born every minute!

 

[Leila2]

The first thing which sprang to my mind was a chocolate zebra. Chances are if it truely is related to a zebra then it is some variety of hypan. I have found them to be really shy and they tend to not eat for the first week or so when I get them until they settle in.

You do really need to know the species you have to know what to feed it successfully. If by pleco pellets you mean the spirulina things then many hypans on't touch them unless they are about to starve to death... and even then probably not. First off make sure you are feeding something that it will eat.

Second, I feed mine just before lights out. Go for less food rather than more. I have found the meaty foods my hypans eat tends to mess up the water quicker than the spirulina based foods for the other plecos and in the beginning I lost a few due to an accumulation of uneaten food building up under objects in the tank.

They can survive for a week without food without any problems so by only putting a little food in you don't run the risk of them starving as long as they are in good condition. I don't know what your tank is like but if there is relatively little water flow then you should hopefully be able to see if anything is coming out the other end of your fish. If it is, it must be eating something. This is a very crude but effective way to know that all is well. As the saying goes... what goes in must come out.

I'm guessing that its like mine and there is no chance of catching it sucking on the glass to check how well fed it looks. Is there any way to arrange the tank so that you can get a better view of it than you currently do? I have some king tigers in with my chocolate zebras and I can feed them quite a large amount now and its gone by morning. The last time I really fed them up big I found a stray egg floating in the tank. I can see a few of them where they hide in silhouette and i can see they have nice porky little bellies so I'm satisfied they are eating really well. Is there any chance of arranging anything to be able to do this as well?

You are right that they are a dead loss fish and you pay a bundle for them only to never see them. I don't know why we like them. Like the Webber Bros circus guy said, there's a sucker born every minute!

Thanks for the advice! I have checked what the fish was described as when I bought it : LDA 28 ORANGE LONG TAIL ZEBRA PLEC

Earlier today I did see some activity from the pleco. It was being viciously attacked by my golden nugget pleco in the cave that the golden nugget has comandeered. The "zebra" then fled back to his usual seclusion. I might end up giving this plec away at some point since it uses up space that a more interesting and active fish could use (assuming that a stationary fish still counts as much as an active fish in terms of stocking levels).

The pellets have spirulina in them and other meat.

 

[JenCliBee]

Isn't an LDA28 a panaque species?, so it's diet consists of a wood based diet, That may well be the problem if you feeding a algae diet, still haven't mentioned what sort of diet it's been fed though?.

I guess if your getting rid, the dietary requirements aren't really paramount now though lol.

BTW. i think the species is called a 'orange'? long-tailed panaque, but i may be wrong lol

 

[Leila2]

Isn't an LDA28 a panaque species?, so it's diet consists of a wood based diet, That may well be the problem if you feeding a algae diet, still haven't mentioned what sort of diet it's been fed though?.

I guess if your getting rid, the dietary requirements aren't really paramount now though lol.

BTW. i think the species is called a 'orange'? long-tailed panaque, but i may be wrong lol

There's no shortage of driftwood fortunately. It must be a panaque yet I have never seen it on the wood, only the albino bristlenose is keen on that and is eating all the nasty white stuff that comes out of it! Maybe the LDA28 comes out for it at night. I bought some pellets that are recommended for cichlids and bottom feeders from Ebay, but had no label or branding so I am not too sure now what's in them other than it is mainly meat based. Also there is regular Tetra flake food and sometimes Tetra wafer mix, although that doesn't go down well in that tank (just plecos, convicts and 2 bronze corys). The fish in my other community aquarium love it though.

 

[skippy_49nz]

Most pananques will eat algae pellets just fine. The JBL pleco chips contain a quantity of wood in them for this purpose (and because sawdust is a cheap filler - if its good enough for McDonalds....) Mine also don't mind the odd shrimp pellet and they even enjoy swimming up to the surface sometimes to take a floating pellet down to the bottom to eat. They do typically prefer the spirulina or algae foods to too much meaty food.

How is the gold nugget with it otherwise? They are renowned for being pretty aggro so could this be the source of some of the unease?

Oh and the stocking thing is based more on the bio-load the fish create ie the amount of waste they produce. Plecos are notorious for producing far more than a similar sized mid-water fish so in theory should be counted as a little extra when determining stocking levels. Again a kick in the pants when you never see them...

 

[Leila2]

Most pananques will eat algae pellets just fine. The JBL pleco chips contain a quantity of wood in them for this purpose (and because sawdust is a cheap filler - if its good enough for McDonalds....) Mine also don't mind the odd shrimp pellet and they even enjoy swimming up to the surface sometimes to take a floating pellet down to the bottom to eat. They do typically prefer the spirulina or algae foods to too much meaty food.

How is the gold nugget with it otherwise? They are renowned for being pretty aggro so could this be the source of some of the unease?

Oh and the stocking thing is based more on the bio-load the fish create ie the amount of waste they produce. Plecos are notorious for producing far more than a similar sized mid-water fish so in theory should be counted as a little extra when determining stocking levels. Again a kick in the pants when you never see them...

Well I have a strong suspicion that the pananque is hiding out of fear of the golden nugget. The GN won't go out looking for the pananque but if he goes into the GN's space he gets thrashed. Nothing to stop him coming out and hanging on the driftwood imo - if he has enough sense to swim away when the GN shows up. I had been going to have a pair of GNs but read that they would fight, so took this pananque under the impression that it might work better. Maybe it will get more confident over time...