to bark or not to bark?

[b.reder]

I have four pleco tanks. two are heavier into wood eaters. All have green pomegranate wood and a small amount of apricot wood. Noone eats the apricot wood but all pieces of pomegranate wood have been stripped of bark. Should I try to have the wood eaters eat the inner pomegranate wood or replace with fresh pomegranate wood with the bark intact?

[bekateen]

I let my plecos eat the wood until it looks like toothpicks.

Cheers, Eric

[b.reder]

So the cry shall be "let them eat wood!"

[dw1305]

Hi all,

....... No-one eats the apricot wood but all pieces of pomegranate wood have been stripped of bark.

Apricot is Prunus armeniaca, and closely related to Almond (P. dulcis) (An almond nut is analogous to a peach or apricot stone), and the wood may contain some hydrogen cyanide (HCN).

cheers Darrel

[Jobro]

I have four pleco tanks. two are heavier into wood eaters. All have green pomegranate wood and a small amount of apricot wood. Noone eats the apricot wood but all pieces of pomegranate wood have been stripped of bark. Should I try to have the wood eaters eat the inner pomegranate wood or replace with fresh pomegranate wood with the bark intact?

Why not both? Let's see what they prefer? Bark or wood

[b.reder]

Since I haven't seen any dead plecos, nor any eaten areas of the apricot, I must surmise that they can sense in some fashion, as Darrel points out- some negative attribute of the apricot wood.

Jobro- Yes- I will augment the denuded pomegranate with fresh pieces. My thanks to all. -Barry