feeding plecos

[thomas]

I've got a 4 in pleco in a 55 gal. tank with pretty good algae growth. Should I supplement his diet with algae discs? And if so, how much?

[Rudy]

I feed mine lettuce. Just anchor it to the bottom. You can tell how much a pleco is being fed when it is on the glass take a look at the belly. If it is sunken it does not eat enough.

I can tell you though 4 pleco (I assume you mean common) in a 55 and they are going to have their work cut out for them eating enough.

[Noelemac]

THat's got to be 4" or 4 inches, nobody puts 4 plecos in a 55 or less do they? :?:

[thomas]

Noelemac, you are correct. It is only the one 4 inch common pleco. Sorry about the confusion.

[madgamer89]

i feed mine one about every week

[M_sfan87]

I feed mine a few times a week with waffers. It seems to do the job, hes 7 inches.

[Fish_Frenzy]

Supplement the pleco's diet with cooked peas. You have to take the peas from the shell because they can not digest them, that takes some getting used to. When you make peas for diner add some extra for your fish. You can "schuck" the peas and store any extra for about a week in the frig. Mine love them and it cuts down on buying expensive algae wafers. The protien in the peas will help them to gain weight and lenght in a very short period of time. Besides the pleco your other fish will enjoy the treat.

[WorldNation]

i keep lettuc and zuccini in my tank. my common pleco doesnt seem to eat the lettuc at all. but the zuccini, he can't get enough of it.

[Fish_Frenzy]

How often do you feed him/her the lettuce and zuccini ? Is the zuccini cooked or raw? I've been told more then once that "Human" food should only be given twice a week sparingly. Mine are feed about 2 table spoons twice a week of the peas.
I have two in a 150 g tank, they are both about 8 inches long and still growing. Also leave out the butter or any thing else you would put on peas, my kids love CHEESE on theirs.

[WorldNation]

i keep zucchini and lettuce in my tank 24/7. i replace it every 48hrs. and i only rinse it. if you cook it, you get rid of all the essential vitamins..so then it'll be kinda pointless to feed it to them.

[fOx]

I have never ever fed my Plecos. The reason being, they eat the algae all over the tank, but they also pick through the rocks on the bottom and pick up loose pieces of food. The Pleco is a natural scavenger, feeding it will only jack up the amount of food you are putting in your tank = more for the ammonia to snack on and grow.

I have never had a problem with this approach to Plecos/Synos. The only time I would advise feeding them is in a new tank that has not had a chance to grow algae, or collect tiny pieces of food in between the rocks on the bottom.

just my $0.02...

fOx

[merlyn2221]

I had two common Plecos in my 55gall when I had tropicals. They started out small (about 2-3 inches each) and grew like crazy.
One was a little over 11" when I gave it away; the other was around 9" long.
I never had an algae problem, and used to drop in[b:3d4095204a] Hikari algae wafers[/b:3d4095204a] for them every other day. Their mouths were so big, they would suck in the disks all at once. My tank was always immaculate too.

I miss them (well one of them anyway) because my tank has too much algae, and my fish can't eat it all.