Sailfin Pleco

[juniorcat]

I have a sailfin pleco (at least i think it is one from pics i've found on the net), he's just over two inches and i'm worried that he's not getting enough to eat. he ate all the algae in the tank in one day and i've been feeding him catfish tablets and algae tablets since. i've read that sailfins are nocturnal but he's really action during the day and seem to want to eat the tablets but he just pushes it around with his mouth and doesn't seem to be able to eat it. when he ate up all the algae in the tank he produced lotsa waste but not on the tablets..

i'm thinking about encouraging algae growth in the tank. the tank's on the window sill and gets plenty of sunlight but still no algae's growing prolly because my sailfin eats it all up before it has a chance to grow.. any ideas on what to do? or he's already doing okay??

 

[Erised]

He probably does eat the tabs as well But just incase, you can try giving him some cucumber.

Skin it (it might contain bad chemicals), drop it in boiling water for a couple of seconds (or well, that's what everyone says you should do, I put mine in raw ) and weight it down with something (plant weights, stick it on a skewer or anything to stop it from floating) and leave it in the tank for about a day. Your plec should love eating it.

Also try feeding it things like bloodworms once in a while.

 

[juniorcat]

thanks for the reply.. do sailfins eat brine shrimp? i've tried live brine but i have zebra fish in the tank with the sailfin and the zebra eats all the live foods the second it is placed in the tank.

my sailfin's also really really active, even during the day. is this normal? they're supposed to be nocturnal. he'll swim around the tank and attach himself to the glass for a while then swim around and around again, constantly. he also has a hole in his fin, but just a tiny hole, no signs of infection or anything. he had the hole when i got him..

 

[Erised]

I've never seen any of my plecs eat live foods, simply because they don't bother going after them When feeding frozen bloodworms though, if some manage to fall to the bottom they're eaten by the plec right away!

I say it's pretty normal It's just a happy plec! Both my plecs (common & sailfin) are very active throughout the day, so no worries there.

The hole, I dont know. How long have you had him? If it's anything less than a month, I'd just keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesnt get bigger. Also, keep up with water changes so risk of infection is lower. If you've had him longer than that though, and absolutely nothing changed, it might be an old injury that just didn't heal properly. Can't hurt to keep an eye on it anyway though.