What is everyone feeding their Panaques??

[David R]

I'm interested in what other Panaque keepers feed their fish, on top of the obvious staple of WOOD.

I've been feeding my four L190 a mix of Hikari algae waters, NLS Mega Fish Formula and zucchini and they've been doing really well for the past 12 months. Now, two days after ordering another kilo of the Hikari wafers, I hear experiences of two others on another forum who have experienced bloating when feeding Hikari wafers to Panaque.

So what is everyone else feeding? Just wood and veges, or prepared foods too?

[FuglyDragon]

Mine get.
Courgettes, Prawns, Pumpkin, Broccoli, Boiled peas
JBL Pleco Tablets, Wardley Shrimp Pellts.
and of course plenty of wood in the tank.

[zeebo]

hi, I do not keep royals, but I have reads posts from those who do. Wood ,as you said if very important for them, and I have also read royal keepers feeding raw sweet potato and butternut/hubbard squash, things like that. I keep 2 blue phantoms who won't touch the harder raw veggies,but your guys should love them.

About the wafers, check the ingredients as some wafers are called "algae wafers" but contain protien such as fishmeal or dry shrimp. I do not know about royals capacity to handle protien or high amounts of it, but if there is fismeal or other protien and they are not 100% algae, plecs that need a veggie diet , their digestives systems can not handle the protien -and plecs will eat whatever is offerd , yes, it can cause problems. So read the ingredients, and make sure your type of plec can handle what is IN them, not just the name on the package. And try some raw harder veggies and mix it up the next day with a green veggie. Also, my guys love raw sweet red and green bell peppers , only thing left in the am is the skin, spinach, pumpkin when in season. So keep an eye on what is really in those wafers. check you royals needs for protien, and try the harder veggies. Good luck . Georgie

[David R]

Interesting, the first ingredient on the Hikari wafers is "fish meal", compared to the ingredients on the JBL ones; Vegetable by-products (46.4%), vegetables (27.4%), cereals (7.5%), molluscs and crustaceans (6%), algae (5%), fish and fish by-products (3.5%).

I've got plenty of pumpkin at the moment, might have to try them on that.

Fugly do you feed the whole broccoli or just the stalks?

[FuglyDragon]

Just the stalks.

[David R]

Nice site, I take it you're in Christchurch going by the various LFS in your poll? I'll try mine on pumpkin tomorrow night.

[Chouin]

Hello,

I give mine a variety of pellets and wafers.
Here is a list, the first one being the one I give the most :
- HBH Algea Grazers
- Kensfish Premium Vegetable Stick
- NLS Thera A 2mm
- Wardley's Spirulina Discs
- Hikari Algea Wafer (rarely)

I also give them fresh raw veggies (once a week normally):
- Zucchini (their favorite)
- Potato
- Carrot
- Cucumber (rarely)
- Green pepper (rarely, but they love it)
Normally the day before a water change, it always make a mess in the tank...
I tried brocoli, but it made my water go white !

Here are some pictures taken a few minutes ago with them eating zucchini :



Thanks
Chouin

[FuglyDragon]

man you going to have some sawdust in that yank LOL Awesome tank btw wish I could give me panaques a home like that

[camtang]

My Panaques go nuts on the Pumpkin, I have had no luck with the Broccoili at this stage.
I have tryed Kiwifruit,Apple,Kumara and Potato with good results
Staple foods are any leftover NLS cichlid,salmon feed and novo rift and JBL XL pleco tabs every second day

[FuglyDragon]

Salmon feed as in commercial fish farm food ?

[camtang]

Yeh. It goes in for the cichlids L114 and L014, but I am sure the Panaques get some as well

[David R]

So I just did a little experiment, added a piece of pumpkin and a piece of courgette, switched the nightlight on and watches...

Two L128 were the first customers, one went straight for the courgette, the other forraged around a bit before eventually having a bit of a go at the pumpkin. L81 was also quick to come out, straight for the courgette. Then the L190 started coming out, courgette seemed to be their first choice, but one was going for the pumpkin when I turned the lights off and came back upstairs. None of the L14 appeared, in fact they've been very shy since moving to the big tank. I guess we'll see how much of the pumpkin gets eaten over night.

Still interested in hearing what others are feeding their Panaques. RobRensen? ElTofi? matthewfaulkner?

[camtang]

It wase 2nd or 3rd time I tryed Pumpkin before it got hammered

[FuglyDragon]

Be sparing with commercial salmon food its packed full of fish protein. But they do love the pellets, at least mine do, guaranteed to bring every plec out for a look even in middle of day.

[camtang]

Yeh I do use it sparingly for that reason.I have tropheus in the tank as well so I have to be careful on two counts.
Sorry for hijacking your question David

[David R]

Bumping this back up, still interested to hear from other keepers about their Panaque diets!

[rob rensen]

I only feed my panaque's with soft wood and allot of spirulina tablets

[Valb68]

Always wood on hand of course, also lots of naturally growing algae in the tanks plus occasional spinach leaf, zucchini if the algae gets beat back. Mine also come out for Kens earthworm sticks, and Repashy Morning Wood

[David R]

What brand spirulina tabs Rob?

[Dave Rinaldo]

Something I can get here in Texas at the grocery store is yucca root. I actually picked some up today!
I learned about this food from Shane in this post. http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=20822

yucca1.jpg (3.85 KiB) Viewed 7390 times

It comes coated in wax, which needs to be removed.

I occasionally feed canned Hearts of Palm but not often because of cost!

[rob rensen]

What brand spirulina tabs Rob?

no special brand, some brands are very expensive ( because of their name)....I order it in a plastic bag, a lot cheaper then an expensive and marvelous looking jar:)

[David R]

Good thing I read the thread as I saw the pic and the name and immediately thought of the common Yucca filamentosa which has roots/stolons very similar in appearance to the one in the picture. I'll have a look for cassava next time I'm at the Asian grocers.


Rob, I agree about the expensive jar! I buy all my food in bulk and I've just got another 1kg pack of Hikari wafers, but have heard on another site that people have had problems with them causing bloat (partly why I started this thread). I'm going to use them seems how I have been feeding them for 12 months as part of a mixed diet with no ill effects so far.

[DOLEMITE]

Great thread, you guys gave alot of insightful info . I'm definetly going to try to feed mine some pumpkin. I've been successful with carrots and zucchini.