Pleco Questions

[h2ochild]

What temperature should the water be to maintain the health of my pleco? I had one that was about 5" long and just died. The water is 68 degrees.

I had a few small snails that must've come in on a plant someone gave me and it wasn't long before there were a lot of them. Could they eat all the algae and, therefore, starve the pleco?

What can I feed the pleco? I've heard they eat all sorts of stuff besides algae.

 

[Ian H]

you should feed your plec algae/plec wafers plus lots of veg (cucumber/potato can't think of any others) what plec was it? some need wood too

 

[jollysue]

There are also omnivore Plecs that are not herbavores and only need a little bit of veggie in their omnivorous sinking tabs or discs. It is important to know what kind of Plec you have. I would think the same with the temp.

68 sounds a bit chilly to me for most tropicals. I keep my tanks at around 75. It is a good temp for mosttropicals. Wel I did assume Farenheit. That is also important to specify.

The Plec should be able to survive the snails--mine do although it looks like they would discorage any approach.

If you are getting a large explosion of snails, you will want to reduce the feeding amount and increase the bottom vacing.

 

[smithrc]

I'll assume a common plec - you have to remember that fish are cold blooded - so if you keep them in cold conditions - their metabolism will be slower - they will eat less be a lot less active and grow less - not a nice way to live really.

 

[raptorrex]

i would say 68, is a bit low for most plecos. most plecos are in reality, low level omnivores. though there may be some that are carnivores. bogwood of some sort is a must for may plecs.