Some friends or other species? & Which wood?

[Fishaliciousfish]

Hi Catlovers,

I was lucky enough to receive a surprise free fish in plants bought at the LFS which brought me to this great site... after having posted foto's of the little guy on here you were all helpful enough to let me know it was a Panaque Maccus. I have completely fallen in love with the little guy and the pleco bug has bitten me (how could it not have ) I am planning a trip to a few LFS and was wondering what other pleco's I could add to the tank that will get along with the Panaque Maccus.

Here's the little guy now:


Tank is: 160x60x60 (5.3 feet x 24 x 24) = 580 Liters (153 gallons) and a very heavily planted set up with lot's of wood for the panaque - all the other fish in the tank are SA fish

I am having trouble finding compatibility options for Pleco's

On the wood...the maccus seemed to love driftwood & mopani wood but I have since taken quite a lot out and replaced it with lot's of wood roots (the kind Takashi Amano uses) but am not sure if this wood is also ok for the Panaque? What wood do they prefer?

Many thanks in advance

[Birger]

and was wondering what other pl*co's I could add to the tank that will get along with the Panaque Maccus.

I have completely fallen in love with the little guy and the pl*co bug has bitten me

I would like to suggest getting more of the same species...it is more interesting watching the interaction between a group, as well as the possibility of breeding action, once you have seen your own little imitations of their parents you will be even more taken with them.

Birger

[andywoolloo]

wow, now that is the best hitchhiker story I have ever heard!! Congrats!! Who ever in life gets a hitchhiker pl*co!! ((Clapping)) Only hitchhiker I ever got was a ghost shrimp which my betta ate!!

He is a real beauty!!

And I was going to say more of the same pl*co too!! I love having lots of one kind. It;s so very interesting to watch them interact.

[Fishaliciousfish]

Thank you so much for the replies... I was worried about aggression having the same kind and the mountains of poop they would produce LOL But in hindsight it is the nicest idea... will get another 2 and hope they are not all the same sex

Anyone any ideas on the wood? Are they ok with Moor Root Wood?

[Bas Pels]

On this forum, a lot has been written about wood for Panaque. If i may summarize these discussions, all soft wood - which is free of any odour - is usable

An odorous wood, which has been laying in water for 6 months or more is also usable (the source of the odour, which may be hamrfull, will by then be washed away)

[Fishaliciousfish]

Ok sorry.. will try and use the search function

[Richard B]

To elaborate a bit more - if a wood is sold at a dealer it should be ok, - standard bogwood, mopani, redmoor etc

If you collect it yourself, beech & oak are popular & ok but so are a lot of others - if you can't find the info on a specific wood - post a question

[Fishaliciousfish]

Thank you very much Richard for taking the time... I have redmoor & savannah wood and just now added some pieces of mopani for the little guy at the back of the tank so he should have enough choice

Now to get him to stop eating my Hemianthus Carpeting in the tank which he seems to prefer over cucumber & courgette and I am a happy gal

[Richard B]

Fishaliciousfish on Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:41 am

Now to get him to stop eating my Hemianthus Carpeting in the tank which he seems to prefer over cucumber & courgette and I am a happy gal

There are loads more "greens" you can try - mange tout, cooked peas, dwarf/french beans, a slice of raw potato, seaweed sheets, sweet peppers, palm hearts, cooked butter beans, blanched cabbage, blanched kale etc etc etc

trial & error of small quantities of these sort of things should show what his/her preferences are

[Fishaliciousfish]

Thanks!! Added to the shopping list..... he's going to be eating healthier than me

Going to be getting another 2 L104 tomorrow - can't wait

Thanks again

[Richard B]

Cool! Keep us all posted with updates

My fish definately eat better than me! If what i'm having is siutable for them they'll always get a bit - for example, lobster, oysters, mussels, crayfish, king prawn, (obviously these a once in a while foods).

But they miss out on curry, kebabs, cream cakes etc which are soooooooooo bad for us......

[Awugod]

My L104s love sweet potato (aka yams).

[pLaurent1251]

Your little Panaque is lovely, and it's understandable that you're becoming a pleco addict. Best of luck in your quest to have a breeding pair!!

Who ever in life gets a hitchhiker pl*co!!

Not me, that's for sure. The only hitchiker I ever got was some horrendous fish-eating insect larva.

[Fishaliciousfish]

I have tried Mango & Spinach so far... all left untouched Still have a few things left to try

I am not sure what Yams are in dutch but will try and find out... thanks

I tried to get some more Maccus yesterday but in all 4 LFS they had none...<sniff sniff> Saw plenty other georgous ones but resisted tempation as I didn't know if it would work with my maccus and how big they get... also saw some L46 and the temptation was very high but the pricetag helped with that

[Bas Pels]

I am not sure what Yams are in dutch but will try and find out... thanks

yams are sweet potatoes, which translates into zoete aardappelen. Most likely a Surinam shop would sell them, but these shops might be found exclusively in Amsterdam and The Haque. Elsewhere a toko (selling foodstuff to cook asian) might help you

[DutchFry]

i'm sure the panaque maccus will eat courgette once he's formiliar with it. just try and try again until he knows it's eatable.

[racoll]

I don't think spinach and mango are great foods for

Panaque

, they are better suited to the algae eaters like

Otocinclus

and

Farlowella

.

As suggested, try courgette and sweet potato/yam. They like to get their teeth stuck into their food (they eat wood after all), so these foods only need a quick blanch. Broad/fava beans in cans are also worth a try. These three foods are tried and tested for Panaque.

Remember, it will take them a little while to start on a new food, so keep persevering and they will start eating these three foods. Might help to get them a little hungry first....