Feeding very large plecos

[Shane]

For those keeping very large plecos... what does your feeding regime look like? I am keeping a 12" plus Panaque now and he can consume a six inch squash, zucchini, or cucumber in minutes. A large part of the weekly grocery run is just veggies for "Chewie." I tried large (1") algae wafers, but they are just a small snack. Other than those I am giving occasional large chunks of Repashy Bottom Scrapper. Other ideas?
-Shane

[Dave Rinaldo]

I think I learned of this from you! Yuca (cassava root).

[Viktor Jarikov]

I wonder if you dehydrate a fresh 6 inch zucchini or a cucumber (98% water?) to the dryness level of that algae waver, would the resulting weight and the nutritional value be comparable to one or a few of those wavers?

It is a trivial thought but it appears easy to misjudge how much nutrition is packed in a high quality dry feed.

[Jools]

Sweet potato and river wood with bugs.

And 12" isn't very large, it's just above average.

Jools

[MarcW]

My largest fish, 16 to 18 inch TL, so about 12 inch SL, L095, just get Repashy Igapo Explorer, about a 2x1x1 inch chunk each most days. They happily pick up bits left over from feeding other fish in their tank, various pellets and occasionally bloodworm. They also seem to graze the oak bogwood as there is decent amount of sawdust in the tank.

I used to feed fruit and veg to them but found that clogged up the filtration way too quickly, their favourite was Papaya!

As mentioned denser things like sweet potato usually have more nutrition pound for pound.

That panaque does sound very hungry, that's a lot to consume in a sitting!