Queen Arabesque

[ghent_3rd]

My QA looks awesome and is sitting in a cave quite close to the fron of the tank and I did catch it out in the open when the lights were off recently but I as of yet I have not seen it eating. I have posted in a thread below but was just wondering what is the best way to defrost shrimp before I give it a go for the QA. I'm going to sit and watch the tank at lights out tonight to see if it gets any food. Had it since Thursday now but not too worried at the minute as colours are still really bright and it hasn't just disappeared into nowhere. Hoping that after a few days it will get a bit braver and come out a bit more at lights out. Keep trying to catch the garra that causes havoc at food time but in heavily bogwooded tank it is proving quite difficult!!


Just seen these on eBay, do you think the QA maybe interested in these as they are more carnivorous?? Also, what's the best way to defrost shrimp prior to putting it in to the tank??

CRAB/KRILL

 

[DarkEntity]

I thought that it was the QA's that needed wood in their diet...along with vegetable matter, i just leave courgette in the tank over night and the next day its mostly gone. Maybe put it near to the plec so he/she dont need to move to far

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

L260's don't eat wood. Our's might hide or lay on the wood, but never eat it. Neither do they eat algae, so vegetables aren't a must. Some do eat veggies (one of mine loves blanched courgette, potato and cucumber) but not all.

I'm sure the crab/krill bits you found on ebay would be eaten by the Arabesque. When I feed mine shrimps or prawns, I defrost them in a cup of tank water, on the lid of the tank. Doesn't take too long, only a few minutes. They also LOVE blood worms, so if you have any of those, try feeding yours that.

Don't worry too much about not seeing the plec eat. Even if they come out to see you, they take a while before they feel safe enough to eat in front of you. My female was always looking at us and swimming at the front of the tank. But it was a few weeks before she was actually eating in front of us. I had to drop her food close by, as I did with my male. Be patient, it will pay off and soon yours will be out at the drop of the pellets!!

Got any pics of your new guy/gal???

 

[ghent_3rd]

L260's don't eat wood. Our's might hide or lay on the wood, but never eat it. Neither do they eat algae, so vegetables aren't a must. Some do eat veggies (one of mine loves blanched courgette, potato and cucumber) but not all.

I'm sure the crab/krill bits you found on ebay would be eaten by the Arabesque. When I feed mine shrimps or prawns, I defrost them in a cup of tank water, on the lid of the tank. Doesn't take too long, only a few minutes. They also LOVE blood worms, so if you have any of those, try feeding yours that.

Don't worry too much about not seeing the plec eat. Even if they come out to see you, they take a while before they feel safe enough to eat in front of you. My female was always looking at us and swimming at the front of the tank. But it was a few weeks before she was actually eating in front of us. I had to drop her food close by, as I did with my male. Be patient, it will pay off and soon yours will be out at the drop of the pellets!!

Got any pics of your new guy/gal???

Very informative reply, thanks very much. I do have bloodworm but as you can imagine everything else in the tank goes straight after it aswell. I'm going to give the shrimp a go tonight although I don't know where the QA has tottered off to at the minute, . Blood worm has been tried and she may have got some of that also, like I say, not too sure really.

I think I'm going to feed all my others in the tank and just before I turn the moonlighting off I will drop the shrimp in and some bloodworm near to where I have seen the QA in the past couple of days in the hope that her nocturnal instincts will lead to her feeding. Fingers crossed anyway.

Thanks again AandC, cracking Leopard Frog by the way, I love the colour of those guys!!

 

[ghent_3rd]

Here is the pic of my L-260, sorry about the flashback, I had to capture it quickly before it went into hiding!

 

[stang1]

Beautiful Pleco Ghent! That's the next one on my wishlist when my other tank is ready.

 

[ghent_3rd]

Beautiful Pleco Ghent! That's the next one on my wishlist when my other tank is ready.

Cheers

I sort of wish I shelled out the extra cash and got a bigger specimen but I didn't think the extra few MM's warranted another £15.00.

 

[stang1]

Is that the one you got from Peterborough?

 

[ghent_3rd]

It is yeah, they had a couple of other QA's in there aswell, also a huge variety of other plecs.

Considering a Medusa as the next one. might get a little big though.
Have to do some research before I go.

 

[stang1]

That's a good excuse for me to go and visit then!
The Medusa Pleco is lovely. Just checked Planet Catfish and they say it gets to about 5". Not that I'm trying to encourage you!

 

[ghent_3rd]

That's a good excuse for me to go and visit then!
The Medusa Pleco is lovely. Just checked Planet Catfish and they say it gets to about 5". Not that I'm trying to encourage you!

5" hey............ I've heard reports about 8" somewhere else but hey, they're slow growing anyway!

Hope they still have them in when I next go, I'm not going to be able to get over there for a good 6-8 weeks

 

[stang1]

Well if you do get one be sure to post a pic so I can drool over it!

 

[ghent_3rd]

I've left my tank in the dark after dropping some fozen bloodworm and brineshrimp in along with a couple of small frozen prawns, all defrosted in tank water. I'm going to whip the remains of the prawns out in the morning around 7.00am in the morning so hopefully my blessed little QA wll get something to eat tonight!

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

That is a gorgeous Arabesque you have there. Gorgeous!!! How big is he/she?? Where did you get him/her from?? A very nice looking specimen.

Thanks for the nice comment on our leopard frog. I have 2 of those in another tank. They are absolutely stunning. Got them from Trimar and they were really good sized and in beautiful condition. They also took about a week to finally eat, but have settled in and are such a lovely addition.

Keep well and speak soon
Carmen

 

[Bloo]

5" hey............ I've heard reports about 8" somewhere else but hey, they're slow growing anyway!

Yep, the L034 (the brown variety) & L255 (black spotted variety) can both attain 8".
Here's a L255 I had (dead in the photo unfortunately).
I’ve however never had success with them and both times I’ve tried (from different sources, they all died off within a few months for completely unknown (to me) reasons). I have a couple of threads on them somewhere if you wanted to run a search.And if you want to see some gorgeous pics of an L034 do a search on SirM's L34 under "Broccoli".

Gorgeous L260 you have there