Picky Pleco

[atmmachine816]

My juvie Bristlenose doesn't want to eat anything but flake food for some reason. He's stoped eating algae wafers and doesn't want to try lettuce. I"m going to try cucumber when my dad gets some from his garden but how do I prepar them? Is there any other readily taken food that I can give him, I'm afaird he won't get the nutrients he needs.

Austin

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If he's going for flake food, he may be trying to get protein in his diet- basically BN's are primarily vegetarian pleco's, and if you feed them too much high protein foods, it can give their stomache disorders, however, a little bit of protein in their diets once a month or so is fine. You could try putting in a cooked prawn for him and see wether he takes notice in it, if he doesn't, he's probably not looking for protein in his diet .
Does the tank have any algae in it?

Lettuce in general has next to no nutritional value, its not the best of pleco foods because of this, cucumber on the other hand is much better- when you buy the cucumber, try to go for organic so it doesn't have any pesticides or herbicides on it and make sure you give it a quick rinse.
After slicing a thick slice off it, you need to find something to weight it down as cucumber floats in water- some aquarium plants come with metal weights to weigh them down, which can also be used to weigh cucumber slices down too (this is what i use) .
Some people blanch cucumber (when you "blanch" cucumber you basically put it in some boiling water for a couple of moments to help soften it up, then put it in some cold water to cool it down) which some plecs prefer, but its mainly used for critters like ornemental snails who can be very fussy about their veg.

 

[dylema]

Hi,

I feed my BN's lots of different things. Algae wafers, peas, zuccini, sweet potato, green beans, broad beans (favourite), and they eat flakes that make it to the bottom.

I would suggest peas (I use frozen ones and thaw them in some hot water) as these are apparently good to stop the plecs getting constipated which would turn them off their food. I usually quickly blanch the beans and broad beans but still keep them a bit crisp.

I also give them nothing at least one day a week and they can munch on any algae that grows (I never see any).

Hope this helps.

Dylan

 

[LisaLQ]

I find mine prefer courgette to cucumber, and it doesn't make as much mess

 

[atmmachine816]

Ya I know lettuce isn't very nutrional for them but it's all my parents had at the moment and no there's not much algae in the tank. I don't know why but for some reason not much algae grows in that tank even though it's in direct sunlight. He spends most of his time on the ground once in awhile going on the wall. What's a cooked prawn? I was waiting for a cucumber to grow big enough to feed him it. Thanks everybody else for the responses, if I need any help I guess I know where to find it, I'll try to update on how the cucumber goes.

 

[Giant Gourami]

No BN can refuse zucchini (courgette).

1. Slice off a 5 cm long x 0.5cm thick piece of zucchini

2. Weigh it down with a stainless steel spoon

3. Change every 24 hours, or it will foul your tank.

Here's a picture of my peppermint BN having a feed on zucchini, they normally jump on it before I even get my hand out of the tank:

 

[dylema]

What's a cooked prawn?

A cooked shrimp.

Giant gourami, they are good looking little guys.

Dylan

 

[Giant Gourami]

What's a cooked prawn?

Giant gourami, they are good looking little guys.

Dylan

Thanks. They're probably only a few months off breeding age...can't wait, it's going to be fun

 

[atmmachine816]

Do you think he might be eating my ghost shrimp because they used to share the same cave and now all of a sudden they are disapearing not that he's gotten bigger?

 

[dylema]

Do you think he might be eating my ghost shrimp because they used to share the same cave and now all of a sudden they are disapearing not that he's gotten bigger?

I very much doubt it unless they have died and he is eating them after. I don't think he could eat their shell though.

Dylan