Pleco Poop Issue

[Fish are friends]

I have recently added a rusty pleco to my tank and wow what a cleaner... but lots of cleaning means lots of waste.. I have a sand substrate and all the waste is very visable. what would be the best way to sort the waste issue out. My thoughts are to do a quick hoover every day but that equates to a lot of water...open to better ideas! thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Is there any particluar reason you don't want to be changing water?

I know some people use a (new!) turkey baster to suck up the poop, or you could think abour adding a powerhead to push the poo towards the filter inlet.

But a hoover and small water change every day won't do any harm.

Or you could just get used to the fact that plecs poop a lot!

Sand never stays as pristine looking as the first day you put it in, it's just one of those things you get used to.

 

[fishprotector]

my rusty plec is a poop machine too. I do weekly water changes and just put up with the mess inbetween. I am going to try installing a powerhead to try and push it towards the filter inlets when I get paid though. How big is yours? What do you feed him? I can only get mine to eat courgette, muscle, prawn and bloodworm.

 

[Fish are friends]

i got him on thursday and he is about 3 inches long... so far i have only put algae wafers and what ever algae is in the tank but ill be dropping some cucumber in there tonight.. as far as water changes go i do a weekly water change but because its a 300 litre tank that is quite a lot of water... ill try the idea of using the power head to push the waste to the filter inlet and then just clean the filter more often..

 

[fishprotector]

Ahh fair enough. I dont have any algae in my tank so I have to supplement its diet. Mine is currently around 6-7 inches and quite chunky. My tank is a 300l tank too. I normally change between 100l and 130l a week. Good luck with him. I have found them to be an easy going and quite lively species

 

[Fish are friends]

Thanks to modern technology (hose pipes) water changes are now a breeze.. i change about 100l a week too. the main stocking will be dwarf cichlids so good water is essential. "Rusty" is very active and so far he has left the heaters pretty much alone but will watch to see if i need heater guards.. apart from cucumber what else would he eat, ill add some blood worm tonight as well to see how he deals with it!!

 

[fishprotector]

Try courgette instead, it has more nutritional value as cucumber is mainly water. I would also try some prawns, muscles or cockles oh and peas.

 

[matubula]

You should provide several pieces of bogwood as well for your 'Rusty'. The common name of Rusty pleco is used for Hypostomus cochliodon or something very similar. Their care should be considered the same as Panaque/Royal plecos.