Better Pleco Food

[noob23]

Ive been feeding my pleco those Hikari algae wafers, and he seems to be loving them. I have started to notice though, my nitrates have skyrocketed after use of these things, as most of the wafer just disintegrates into the water. About 10ppm to 40ppm in one day. Can i feed my buddy some lettuce, or can i get some suggestions on other things that wont make my water look like a porta-potty?

 

[FishGeek]

I dont see how the wafers are causing that much of a spike unless you are over feeding. ??? Try giving him some Zuchinni, he'll LOVE it.

 

[Lotus]

Even for a large pleco, one wafer two or three times a week is enough. Feed after lights out. More than that, and you're really just polluting the water.

Plecos tend to be big waste producers, which is one of the reasons they shouldn't be in small tanks.

 

[d3sc3n7]

I've given those to my pleco. He really loved 'em. Even when he was smaller, he would sit there and demolish one, rather quickly! In fact, I just bought him a new pack...but my stupid cat got up on the shelf where I keep all the fish stuff, knocked them down, and ate all of 'em!!

 

[Dr_fish]

I have the exact same problem. What I do like to do is put half a wafer under my filter inlit tube at night time when you plecos are most active. When the disk dissolves any uneaten food will then get sucked up by your filter.