Pleco's Won't Eat

[Gilbertr14]

Hello

I recently saved two Plecos from an 80 litre tank with a huge block Glass slag in it. The two guys had no space, and one would have a go at the other.
They are already about 30cm each
The one Pleccy has fin rot.

I moved them into a 250L tank. They are the only two in the tank.

The previous owner fed them floating Chilchid foods, which the got by flipping upside down ad getting them
Now they dont want to eat the Plecc Wafers and flake that I let settle on the floor.

Anybody got advise?
Dont want to loose the chaps. .

 

[scatz]

if they are used to eating from the surface, try giving them some floating food, if sinking food is new to them, it may take them a while to realise that it is actually food

 

[mixmaster jay]

they will eat after about a week trust me ive had the same problem 2 weeks ago with a rescued blind common plec out of a cichlid setup and that is 13" long it would only eat floating cichlid food but now eating everything and it loves salmon lol and sinking catfish pellets but it eats all types of fishy things mussels/prawns /squidrings sprats(whitebait) ect just keep feeding your fish as you normally would and just start putting less floating cichlid sticks in and less frequant and more you normal normal way of feeding your fish it will eat when it gets too hungry does it suck on the glass alot? if so its more than likeley be eating anyway without you realising it

 

[Gilbertr14]

Hello

They do their normal Sucking at around 11 every night, but there is very little Fecal matter.

Interestingly this tank is destined to become a malawi Chichid tank.

mbuna chiclids to be exact.

 

[skippy_49nz]

I would do that as well. Feed them the way they are used to and slowly wean them onto feeding off the floor.

 

[star4]

Hi I had the same problem with two plecs I rescued. Firstly have you any bogwood in the tank? I learned that bogwood is important to plecs as it helps them digest food!, they will happily suck on this to get their system going again. I had to tie food onto suckers and stick it around the tank at different levels till they learnt that their food wouldnt be floating. Cucumber is good as it has a very stong smell. You can also try lightly boiled potato, ham and chicken. Lettuce will float about the tank and they will also have a munch on that.

Well done on rescuing plecs

 

[hotonlad]

Larger plecs will eat more during the night as they will try to hide away in darkness during the day. if they have nowere to hide they might cower away during the day time. mine do anyways.

 

[Gilbertr14]

Sucking a little Cucumber.

Ick is under control too.

 

[mixmaster jay]

glad its started eating abit. bog wood is important for plecs as they rasp on it to aid digestion and but its mainly panaques like royal plecs that do need it as they do eat it but it is still important to have some for any kind of pleco

 

[star4]

Glad to hear its eating

 

[Gilbertr14]

Alas, one died, the other not far behind

Did a waterchange, added some potassium permanganate for the ick.

Within hours, both pleccies covered in this brown goo.

I scraped it off this guy, you can see it at the back, he didnt even fight it.