In the next article, it's explained what groups eat what type of food so you can work out what each genus will want. White worm and micro worm cultures are also good fun to try and really appreciated by these types of fish. Your pleco will grow alongside your aggressive community. Blanching, for those of us that aren't Delia Smith, means to boil it for a short time. There are a two main ways of doing this: clips and weights. Has this page been useful? The best advice is to start with a small portion. Most vegetables tend to float at the top of the tank, and plecos tend to eat at the bottom or side of the tank, so it's necessary to make sure the food ends up in a place where your fish will be able to eat it easily. For example Panaque maccus will eat the skin of a courgette before attacking the centre, whilst Ancistrus spp. A hungry bristlenose pleco will completely devour every last piece of blanched zucchini, cucumber medallions an… Here's an article on how to breed them: http://www.easyinsects.co.uk/livefood/fruitflies/ . In this article, I'll try to explain how to prepare various types of food. With their massive appetites, these fish produce a lot of waste and need a high-quality canister or HOB filter with replaceable media to keep their water clean. One question that commonly occurs is what and how to feed these fish. Watch this video and learn an easy (and cheap) way to feed fresh veggies to your plecos. Yes, the dog will eat any scraps that fall to the ground, but they should still have daily meals consisting of actual dog food. While they’re often sold as algae eaters, Common Plecos are actually omnivores and need to eat both plant and animal-based foods. When time comes to feed, just take a cube and put it in the water. Add some tap-water to each compartment to seal in the food-bits a bit better. Step 1. Better choices are medium to hard woods, such as cherry, apple, birch and beech. This is the first part of a two-part article on how to feed loricariid catfish, aka Plecos. Plecos avoid brightly lit areas and usually stay in shaded parts of the tank or under decor until the lights go out at night. Additionally, you can treat your plecos with the occasional raw cucumber or zucchini one or two times each week. Overall, plecos don’t do well in peaceful or semi-aggressive communities. In the wild, these catfish are opportunistic eaters and readily consume anything that fits in their mouth. The article is targeted at carnivorous insects and amphibians, but fish will take these larvae too. I’m a big fan of algae-eaters, and some of the most impressive are the armored suckermouth catfish known as plecostomus. If you’d like to keep a Common in a community set-up, your best bet is to raise your pleco with a group of aggressive cichlids like Oscars or Green Terrors. At the weekends I feed him a slice of cucumber as well. They often start attacking and even eating smaller or slower-moving fish. Adding a juvenile to an existing aggressive tank may work too, if there’s plenty of hiding spots to keep them safe until they’re bigger. Please donate to our monthly hosting costs and keep us free for everyone to enjoy!Explore our YouTube channel, Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Offer 2 to 3 protein treats a week, such as brine shrimp or bloodworms, Easy, but becomes more challenging as catfish mature, Varies as the catfish mature; juveniles may be shy and mellow, but adults are often aggressive and territorial, Mostly bottom-dweller but may use the entire tank in adulthood, Well-filtered and very clean water with a mild to moderate current, Juveniles may initially be kept in peaceful community tanks and with other Pleco species, but they often become aggressive with age. Just try again with a fresh piece. Think of it like having a pet dog. This is because this type of fish needs extra fiber and the fiber can be obtained from driftwood. A varied diet of vegetables and protein-based foods is ideal. For bigger plecos, these can be just cut up to suitable portions and fed directly. What are the requirements for a giant pleco aquarium? Keep in mind that giant plecos are voracious eaters and may attempt to eat anything they come across, from scraps left by other fish to dead or slow-swimming members of your community. Make sure to provide several pieces of driftwood in the aquarium at all times so your pleco can suck and scrape it off. The dry egg white will only dissolve very slowly in water. It’s best to feed your plecos every day and provide protein-rich live foods a few times a week: Despite the advice given at many Big Box pet stores, the Common Pleco is not a good option for the vast majority of community aquariums. Larger aquatic insects, amphibian larvae, snails, crayfish, and native fish eat this. Different plecos seem to like different parts of the vegetable. To keep the fish you need a tank with large amount of fouling in it. Is the Common Pleco a good option for your aquarium? Common Plecos can reach over 15-inches in length and can easily outgrow a small aquarium within a few months. With a teaspoon you can pierce the food with it, and vegetables can be attached to stones with a rubber band or a piece of string. Zebra Plecos do best on a high-protein diet. Raw vegetables should be anchored near the bottom of the aquarium. While these foods don’t need to be a regular part of your plecos’ diet, they can help add fiber and essential vitamins. Anything that is a bit heavier than water can be used as a weight, such as a teaspoon or stones. They are available in all sizes from a few centimetres to well over half a metre. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Aquarium algae can’t provide fish with a balanced or complete diet, so you’ll have to supplement your plecos with commercial products and fresh treats. These will provide an abundance of hiding places for your fish during the day and plenty of surfaces to rasp for algae and fiber. They are pretty easy to breed, and you can buy a starter culture. Place it in the tank. Most plecos will not be able to bite chunks out of for instance mussels or prawns, so it needs to be chopped to a suitable size. Common suckermouth catfish may fight when kept together in groups unless provided with a spacious environment (like an outdoor pond).. You may notice small or medium-sized fish are missing or find their partially eaten bodies, and you may even witness an attack on larger fish as your pleco gets bolder and bigger. ... How to feed pleco fry! They’re found in streams and river habitats, and usually prefer to hide among wood, branches and debris, along the bottom of waterways. Most people will tell you that the common pleco is a sucker fish, and can live off algae alone. They feed on all sorts of matters they find in their region. Your Mr. Pleco (XIX), in just a few months, can eat a tremendous amount of this. It is unquestionably the most important food source produced in most water bodies, and vital to the overall community. When it comes to the Bristlenose Pleco, we are talking about algae-eaters with a mostly plant-based diet. Shane's World Catfishology Feeding Plecos, Part 1 • Types of food. Remember to take any left of food or vegetables out of the … HerbivoresAlmost any vegetable and many fruits that you can find in the supermarket will do here, but some are more suitable than others. Tankarium is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. A common misconception is that these fish have a sucker shaped mouth in order to hoover up algae. Plecos are a popular option for both novice and experienced fishkeepers because they’re generally hardy, easy to care for, and help remove algae and decaying scraps from your tank. It’s difficult to spot the differences between males and females, and even experts may be unable to identify precise species unless they know the capture location. While they are bottom dwellers when young, mature giant plecos often use their entire tank for hunting, so your mid-level and surface fish, Plecos are a natural fit for planted aquariums, but mature catfish, Offer your plecostomus commercial foods like, 150-gallon or larger aquarium with a stand and cover/lid, High-quality canister and/or HOB filtration system(s), Decors such as driftwood, sticks/branches, rocks and plastic plants, Hoses and/or vacuum system for water changes, Commercial sinking algae wafers and/or spirulina pellets. It may eat some soft leaved tank plants, but only in case if it doesn’t have enough of algae and supplements to its diet. But, they are not as fond of it as other plecos or voracious algae-eaters. My albino bristlenose pleco fish love cucumber! But unlike smaller species, such as the Bristlenose or Clown, Common Plecos often don’t work out in community aquariums: Common plecos are native to a wide range of Central and South America. In terms of their appearance, giants have the same pleco body shape and features as the rest of the catfish in the Loricariidae family: Plecos are hardy catfish and can easily survive for a decade in captivity. Drop a note in the comments below or join the bigger pond on our social media pages! These eating machines need plenty of room and a robust, high-quality filtration system, but are otherwise tolerant to a wide range of conditions. She is an expert in setting up new tanks and maintaining naturally-planted freshwater habitats, and has experience raising a wide variety of aquatic species. I just drop it in the tank most of these float) and he loves hunting it down, catching it and devouring it. This way, they can get all the nutrients they need for a healthy life. Adults are best kept on their own or in a community tank with large, aggressive cichlids like Oscars or Green Terror, Ideal for planted aquariums, but may consume plants rather than eating wood or algae. In the next part of this series we'll discuss what groups of species eat which groups of food. Offer your plecostomus commercial foods like sinking algae wafers and spirulina pellets as their primary diet. Since plecos have huge appetites and produce a lot of waste, toxins quickly build up in their water. Your happy loricariids will eat away since this mimics their "natural" foods. As for the live food, it can be earthworms, bloodworms, insects larvae, small crusta… Learn how your comment data is processed. He loves pears, melons, cucumbers, and zucchini. Lastly, note that, if your tank has live plants, plecos may uproot or eat them. Although Plecos can be housed with a wide variety of fish, they are very territorial towards their own species. There are examples of fish eating orange, but vegetables in the Cucumber family, such as Courgette (Zucchini to the American audience), common cucumber and various types of melon are all excellent foods. Feeding Bristlenose Plecos. If the fish eats algae faster than it appears, you should feed it with artificial food. If it's all been eaten overnight, it's probably OK to feed a bit more next time. Plecostomus fish really only need to be fed once a day. Overcooked vegetables can easily cause the water to go cloudy. I wish I could take credit for this, but my hat is off to Norbert Flaugger of Casa Maria, Venezuela who, in conversation with Shane Linder passed on this method that works wonders for raising tough fry and acclimatizing picky loricariids. If plecos don’t consume enough fiber or gorge on protein-rich treats they may develop bloat or constipation problems. They’re not picky about water hardness, and prefer neutral conditions with a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. For smaller individuals, it's preferred to blanch the vegetable before feeding. Catfish are a popular choice for aquariums because they’re usually very healthy fish and don’t suffer from many common problems. Wood should be cleaned properly with boiling water and then soaked for at least 24 hours before it's placed in the fish-tank. Common Plecos are shy juvenile fish who hide during the day and feed on algae, wood, plant materials and food scraps, but they usually don’t stay that way. They’re susceptible to the typical water-borne diseases and parasites like Ich, so always quarantine new fish and plants for a few weeks before adding them to your tank. Wood eatersAside from having wood in the tank, these fish also like a bit of vegetable, particularly the skin of certain vegetables such as cucumber and courgette are eaten with gusto. Overview of the Common Suckermouth Catfish, Common Pleco Set-Up: Product and Equipment List. Again, the Bristlenose Pleco is a bottom feeding fish, so it’s important that the live and frozen foods sink to the bottom of the tank, in order for them to be seen. While there are more than 150 species of armored catfish, one of the most prevalent in the aquarium trade is the “original” or Common Pleco (Hypostomus plecostomus). Experiment by adding a small amount of plant food to tank with no fish in it, and some suitable size stones, pottery or similar for the algae to form on. Paint the resulting mixture on a flat rock or driftwood. Even with a well-maintained filtration system and using fresh filter media, you’ll need to do a 30 to 50% water change at least once a month to maintain a healthy pleco tank. This can include bloodworms, small crustaceans, fly larvae, and earthworms. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. They are happy to consume both fresh and decayed matter. Adding blanched vegetable treats and/or fast-growing Hornwort may protect plants from damage. For any vegetable foods, anything that hasn't been eaten after 24 hours should be removed, otherwise it goes soft, most fish won't eat it and your water quality will take a nose dive. Almost all loricariids are opportunistic feeders, so they will eat leftover food that is given to other fish. This is usually wheat or soy. These fish came into the hobby as "Algae eaters", and many are still bought to keep the glass clean on the tank they live in, while other, more exotic, species are bought purely to please the owners by having a striking pattern. They are actually omnivores, and eat plant material, algae, insects and small crustaceans in the wild. These fish came into the hobby as "Algae eaters", and many are still bought to keep the glass clean on the tank they live in, while other, more exotic, species are bought purely to please the owners by having a striking pattern. Here are some suggestions, based on what diet your fish may have. They love to eat at night and rarely like to be seen during the day. Plecos are huge waste factories. Commons prefer warm water from 72 to 86°F, so you may not need a heater in your aquarium or outdoor pond. Plecos can even eat vegetables and fruits from time to time. For instance mussels are also available tinned, which makes it an ideal food because it's easily available. An air stone is highly recommended to maintain high oxygen levels in your water. Your pleco needs lots of fiber in their diet, and they can get it from driftwood. An older, larger Pleco may need a tank size closer to 150-200 gallons. However, with plecos as with many other fish and humans, overfeeding is much more of a problem than underfeeding, and aside from that, food that is breaking down in the water will affect the water quality in a negative way. When it comes to food, plecostomus eat a variety of food including vegetables. Supplement with raw zucchini or cucumbers as a treat once or twice a week. Jen has more than 30 years experience as a biologist, aquarist, and fishkeeper. LimnivoresThese fish also eat many different things. A well-balanced Pleco diet consists of: 1. Algae eating catfish are popular options for planted freshwater tanks, but not all Pleco Fish work out in peaceful communities. While juvenile plecos are often shy and peaceful fish at first, they rarely stay that way once they’ve matured. I feed cucumber to my pleco fry. Like humans, these fish can eat many of the same vegetables that humans can. I feed mine one algae pellet/tablet per day. All commercially produced fish foods have to have some type of binder to get the nutrients to the fish. For smaller individuals, it's preferred to blanch the vegetable before feeding. As for the vegetables, you can feed plecostomus with spinach, lettuce, squash, cucumbers. So, I hope the above gives you some good ideas and encourages experimentation too. CarnivoresWhite fish, mussels, shrimps/prawns, cockles. An excellent choice is Hikari Algae Wafers, which I use for my plecos This should be supplemented with vegetables, as they need a large amount of plant matter in their diet. Their main diet should be composed of a herbivore sinking pellet, since they tend to mainly eat on the bottom of the tank. As they grow and mature, giant plecos frequently become territorial and even aggressive with each other and the rest of the community. You can't usually find this in the supermarket, but aside from dedicated (usually frozen) foods in the pet-shop, you may be able to get suitable food items by farming your own. I feed cucumber to my pleco fry. To control the waste from my common pleco, I have a HOB filter rated at 400 gpm, a sponge filter rated for a 60 gallon tank, and a 300 gph powerhead fitted with a filter sock.. Common plecos need a tank of 75 gallons minimum and even larger is preferred. Fry also benefit from the protein in the egg white. The Common Plecostomus may be cheap and widely available, but these giant catfish can become problematic as they mature. Step 2. Suitable wood can be found in the fish shop, but you can also use wood from the garden, or found on river-banks and shores. Consider feeding peeled, finely chopped foods like lettuce, zucchini, spinach, or melon – just make sure you avoid acidic fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes Supplement any algae growth with a mainly herbivorous diet, with a small amount of higher protein food from the carnivore section. You can also feed them blanched vegetables – try out a variety to see what they like the best. You should feed them tablets which have been specifically developed for bottom dwelling herbivores such as sinking algae pellets or wafers. For the more adventurous, you could try your hand at express-growing of algae. Young plecos may be friendly bottom dwellers for a few months and then suddenly have an attitude change. You can add any kind of fish food and even ground, dried vegetables. Since giants can measure up to 24-inches in length, you’ll need at least a 75-gallon tank for a single adult fish, although 150-gallon would be even better. Feeding Bristlenose Plecos. Feeding Plecostomus Vegetables. Common Plecostomus (Hypostomus plecostomus), Average 15-inches in length, but adults range from 12 to 24-inches at maturity, Scavenging Omnivore; juveniles consume algae, wood and plant materials along with decaying scraps and live fry, insects and eggs. They eat everything from algae to meat and some even use wood as a food-source. Article © Mats Petersson, uploaded January 01, 2002. A few times a week offer live, dried or frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms or … Tankarium is reader-supported. 2. Although plecos are known as cleaner fish, scavengers, and algae eaters, they must be fed a regular diet consisting of high-quality fish foods. With diligent care and spacious environments, a Common Pleco can live for up to 15-years in your aquarium! This can include algae, aquatic plant matter, fungi, meat, small insects, larvae, worms, and a great many other food sources that sink to the bottom. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); © 1996 - 2021 PlanetCatfish.com, part of the Aquatic Republic Network group of websites.