Pleco maintainence

[MJY6087]

I've got a tank w/  ABN plecos and guppies only.  I feed the cucumbers to the plecos, but this always makes the water super cloudy and dirty.  Is their a method to keep the water in better shape?  What do you guys do to make the water in good shape?

[Mzungu]

Re: Pleco maintainence

Hmm...how long are you keeping the cucumbers in there?

[MJY6087]

Re: Pleco maintainence

2 days max usually.

[Fire_chair]

Re: Pleco maintainence

I had the same problem till I blanched them; lightly boil then dunk in COLD water.

[Mzungu]

Re: Pleco maintainence

I'd definitely take them out sooner than that. Try putting them in at night and taking them out the next morning.

And I agree, blanching might help as well.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Pleco maintainence

Switch to NewLifeSpectrum!

I have yet to run int a pleco that didn't love NLS H20 wafers.

[MJY6087]

Re: Pleco maintainence

well i just bought a 2.2 lb bag of hikari algae wafers so that is out of the questions haha

[mrairportjunke]

Re: Pleco maintainence

throw those wafers this way, you dont wanna feed that trash to YOUR fish and go buy yourself some of the NLS everyone raves about.  let me throw that crap you bought away in my tanks.  ahah

[Philbert]

Re: Pleco maintainence

Why do you think the algae in your tank isn't feeding the Plecos enough? Overfeeding causes murky water, and my Plecos seem to keep getting bigger and bigger with a wafer a day...I feed them some wafer most every day, 1 per Pleco, just 'cause they do such a good job I never see any algae. My Sailfins attack the wafers immediately, so the Plecos need to knock them off to eat the wafers. Sometimes they don't bother, so I know they aren't too deprived.
I leave my lights on a long time, sometimes I forget to turn them off before going to sleep; but the Plecos are keeping the algae under control; my Common Browns are getting the size of small Whale Sharks.

[MJY6087]

Re: Pleco maintainence

this sounds kinda weird but i rarely get algae, very rarely.  Im feeding them algae wafers & cucumbers.  Cucumbers are cheap 4/$1 and are supposedly very nutritious for plecos

some of the guppies eat the algae wafers.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Pleco maintainence

I have noticed all my plecos preferred anything over hikari algae wafers....

[Spot86t]

Re: Pleco maintainence

Nothing I have likes the Hikari wafers...  Even my crayfish won't eat them.  They pick them up, taste and drop them.

[Philbert]

Re: Pleco maintainence

I get wafers from Ken's Fish, pretty cheap, but everyone likes them. I love to watch my BBNs sweep in and knock off the horde of Mollies eating the wafers, and settle on top of the wafer for a leisurely meal.
Today a wafer got propped against the glass, and a ABN started eating on it. It fell down and the ABN was upside down with the wafer on top of it's mouth, and it just stayed there, upside down on the tank gravel, and kept eating. That's dedication...  :)

[High-PH]

Re: Pleco maintainence

Not saying that other brands aren't good too, or maybe even better, but I've never had anyone turn up their nose at Hikari wafers.  I can drop one in the planted tank and the cherry shrimp swarm to it, and in the bigger tank, the Pleco goes for them, too. The clown loaches attack them, making smacking-popping noises that you can hear all the way across the room.
Maybe when this batch is gone, I'll experiment with some other brands. I'm not a very reliable source of veggies for mine.
Maybe like us, they learn to prefer what they grow up eating.

PH

[Scooby]

Re: Pleco maintainence

I feed all my Plecos different kinds of veggies but their favorite is zucchini.  I only leave mine in untill they are done eating it (which is usually with in a few hours) or just leave it in over night.  You shouldn't leave it in too long as it does start to rot and will make your water nasty.  I always feed my fish raw vegetables and have heard that if they are blanched they lose some of their nutritional content - but I dont know.