What to feed plecos?

[widebody2]

I had my first unexplained fish death the other day. My golden nugget pleco just died, seemingly out of nowhere. He looked great even after he was dead...fins up and in really good shape....but just dead.

All water perams are good and I do regular water changes so one theory I could think of would be that he possibly did not get enough to eat. The tank is a 125 gallon and I HAD 3 plecos and one algae eater in there and I try not to feed that much in the first place. After the pleco died I took a closer look at the other 3 and noticed the algae eater looks very thin and one other pleco is having problems with his fins.....ALL other fish look perfect.

I feed: cichlid pellets, bloodworms, very few flakes, and very few spektrum thera sinking pellets for jumbo fish. My other fish finish eating all visible food quite quickly. Now 3 plecos and an algae eater makes 4 fish that all eat the same thing and I never see any of them actually eating any of the food I drop in...only sucking on the wood/walls.

My question is: Should I be putting in something else strictly for those guys?

Thanks

 

[big54bob]

Well first off what species of pl*cos do you have?

 

[MissFishy]

Yes, most if not all well cared for tanks will not "grow" the algae necessary to feed a single pleco, let alone more than one. Substitute their diets with algae wafers or blanched zuchini.

 

[Lotus]

Gold nugget plecos are more meat/wood eaters than algae eaters. Things like shrimp pellets or the algae wafers with a meat content work better for them. The do also require driftwood in their diet. They'll also eat bloodworms.

It could be that your fish had internal parasites, which caused its death. They're fairly common in plecos.

 

[widebody2]

I had the gold nugget, another that looks exactly the same except instead of yellow it had blue dots and stripes on the fins, and then another leopard spotted pleco...plus the algae eater.

The gold nugget and the other one have mouths that look like they actually eat some real food, but I have never seen them eat anything that I have put in the tank

 

[MissFishy]

It's always good to know exactly what kind of fish you have in your tank. I suggest you go through some pleco pictures until you figure it out then research to see exactly what that species eats.

 

[EnyaGirl]

I feed my pleco algae tabs, shrimp pellets and fresh zucchini that I clip to side of the tank (I don't bother blanching it), and he goes nuts over it...eats the entire piece, including the skin sometimes within 24-hours!

 

[Matt Nace]

For the rubber, bristlenose and common plecos I also add Zucchini fresh w/o blanching. I cut both end off and they go nuts. My Ruby Barbs used to at it also. I would only keep it in there a day though cause it started getting mushy and messy. DId this once in a while.

Otherwise, shrimp pellets, Algae wafers had my common plecos growing a nice size.

I tied it to a rock or on top of my driftwood.