Pleco appetites??

[TheDudeAbides818]

I have a Pleco in my tank and need some ideas of what to feed him. Tried the Hikari sinking wafers… has no interest. I’ve been reading about feeding them vegetables but need an idea of how to keep the vegetables down at the bottom of the aquarium. I’ve heard that string beans, lettuce, and even carrots seem to work. I believe he’s just a common pleco. And I know they’re nocturnal so feeding them after turning off the lights is recommended. Don’t know if he’s surviving off of just algae eating or bottom feeding while I’m asleep at night, but he definitely got a little bigger.

 

[ghyti]

Feed him Zucchini. Cut it into quarters and rubber band it to a weight. I use chunks from a broken terra cotta flower pot. Dip out with a net after a day or two if he doesn't eat it all. Algae wafers will also work.

 

[CassCats]

When he comes out at night, can you see his belly? It should be gently rounded if he's getting enough to eat.

Try offering a small slice of blanched Zucchini where he liked to hide, remove it in the morning if it's untouched. He will also appreciate meaty foods as well, perhaps once a week.

Keep in mind common plecos grow huge and grow fast as far as plecos go. You may need to consider tank upgrades if he's not in a large enough setup as it is. Depends on which species of common pleco, there's a couple with that label and some get around 12 inches, while a couple reach 24 inches or more... most are in the 15-17 inch range however. All of them are looking at a tank over 100 gallons, and over 200 gallons for any that get over 20 inches

 

[Ceez]

Is his belly slightly plump? If so he's eating.


Commons will eat everything from flake food that falls to the bottom, wafers, meaty pellets, watermelon, cucumber, squash/zucchini etc etc

 

[GaryE]

My LFS sticks stainless steel forks into zucchini coins that have previously been frozen. All their plcos and Loracarids get them. It seems to work very well.

 

[TheDudeAbides818]

Thanks for the feedback… so the common suggestion here seems to be zucchini. The only thing I definitely know he didn’t touch was the algae wafers. Like I said, he may be eating the fallen flakes at night, just not sure really. But I’ll try securing some zucchini to the bottom of the tank near one of his favorite rocks, and hopefully he’ll go for it.