Snowball Fight!

[shang hi]

Ignoring the random title, I got my Snowball Pleco today. it (how do you tell if its a he/she?) is about 2 inches long and spent about 1 and a half-2hours getting accumulised to my tank and after netting him/her out the bag he/she is looking great, i netted him/her out about 30 mins ago and the tank lights are going to be off for about 2-4 more hours to reduce stress of being moved.
it is either hidding in many of the hidding places its found or "chewing" on the bogwood available.

now the questions, how often should i feed it cucumber/couget. and what other veges can a pleco eat.

pics will be added later when i find my digital cam. (mums going to kill me, uh-oh...)

 

[freerunner416]

Lucky you getting a snowball!!

I do not know how to sex them unfortunately but i feed my bristlenoses cucumber or courgette about once or twice a week. I also have tried carrot with them. The L002's that i had loved it but i never saw my bristleys eating at the carrot. I have heard of people feeding peas to their plecos as well.

Hope thats some help.

Craig

 

[PRW1988]

Generally you should feed zucchini (not cucumber) as it stays together longer in the water and doesn't deteriorate as quick. I'd recommend feeding once a week, aswell as feeding algea waffers or spirulina waffers. (the big green pucks).

Congratz on the snowball

 

[jarcher1390]

im not sure on your particular plec but some of mine eat potatoes which can be kept in the tank for a longer period than the cucumber
Jonny

 

[shang hi]

thanks for all the help. ill get some zucchine and courgette. i got some algae waffers from my LFS when i picked him up and so far he/she has spent its time chewing on the bogwood, eating algae off the 3D background and hiding in a cave he/she found.

 

[Luketendo]

Not cucumber, cucumber tends to have a high water content and low nutrient content.

 

[rabbut]

Some plecos require meat. Look up the L number on planet catfish.com, for confirmation of diet. Failing to feed plecos meat, when it is part of their natural diet can lead to problems, so it is advisible to research their diet. If they are a meat eater, prawns and muscle go down well. As mentioned above, cucumber, corgette, peas, patatoe and letuce all are also favorites.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[dthoffsett]

It is a carnivore but will also do well on a variety of foods. Feed mainly with spirulina, tabimin and some shrimpmix / artemia.

Taken from here:
[URL="http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=204"]http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=204[/URL]

This should also be on interest.
[URL="http/www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=266"]http/www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s...?article_id=266[/URL]

 

[rabbut]

It is a carnivore but will also do well on a variety of foods. Feed mainly with spirulina, tabimin and some shrimpmix / artemia.

Taken from here:
<a href="http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=204" target="_blank">http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=204</a>

This should also be on interest.
<a href="http/www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=266" target="_blank">http/www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s...?article_id=266</a>

Thanks dhoffsett for doing what I was too lazy to do As dhoffsett's research shows, your snowball should be offered mainly meaty foods. to add to the list, bloodwork will go down well, but is very fatty, so only use as a treat, not a staple diet

All the best, and thanks again dhoffsett
Rabbut

 

[xingumike]

bear in mind that every 'snowball' plec i have seen for sale in the uk has been LDA33 rather than L102 so Bary rather than Hypan.

Barys are Aufwuchs grazers so not primarily carnivorous, they need a varied diet to avoid bloat.

if it is a Hypan, chances are it won't even look at veg.

pictures would probably help at this point

 

[big-george91]

if ur going to feed it peas make sure u remove the center from the skin otherwise the skins wont be eaten

also i find my pleco likes to eat daphinia in the little sachets