My new Royal Pl*co is refusing to eat

Shannen · Post by **Shannen** » 28 Apr 2005, 20:34

Hi all, Thanks in advance. I'm new here but not new to fish, and catfish.

I got a new 9 inch Royal last weekend and to date he will not touch any food I put in the tank. After reading some things on the web about them being prone to starvation I'm getting a little worried.

So I'm looking for advice on how I can get this guy to eat?

Tank Specs are:
90 Gal
PH 7.5
GH medium (I forget the actual numbers)
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 20ppm

Tank mates are, 3 juvenile severums, 6 skunk loaches, 1 Clown Pl*c, 1 whip tail cat, 1 Dojo loach.

The skunks are the most aggressive fish in the tank, and they don't act like they even notice him.

The tank is set up to have plenty of swimming room with only a large piece of driftwood in the center with a cave big enough for him and some caves in the back corners.

Foods I have tried are: algae tabs, shrimp pellets, cucumber, zucchini, dried seaweed, and pl*co sheets.

Should I remove and QT him? Will the added stress of being handled again cause more harm than good?

Post by **medaka** » 28 Apr 2005, 22:00

Hi shannen

a couple of questions raise them selves here,,
is the royal plec looking rather hollow in the stomach area and if so was it like that when you bought it? I have never heard of anyone getting a royal plec to survive this,
also you said that you have a rather large piece of bog wood in the tank.. Is this actually 'bogwood' the reason I ask is that there is several types of wood sold as 'bogwood' but some of these tend to be too hard for plecs to graze on.
the most usual type of bogwood is quite soft in comparison also if the plec is feeding you should be seeing tell tale signs of it by the amount of fine wood sediment in the substrate, as this is a natural bye product from the plec
also your PH of your water should be lower, if the plec is eating from time to time? lowering the PH in the region of 6.5 to 7, may kick start him into eating frequently.
also could you check on the PH of the water supply you use please

, because if its lower than the reading from your tank then there could possibly be a bigger problem going on in your tank..

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 29 Apr 2005, 11:10

It may also help to raise the temperature in the tank a little bit. The will be fine at temp's up to 30'C, which is about 86'F.

Just make sure you've got a lot of circulation in the water, preferrably both "up down" and "sideways", i.e. using a big air-stone to get some "lift" in the tank as well as a circulation pump or filter to get water to circulate "sidways".

By circulaing both up/down and sideways, you get more water touching the air and picking up oxygen, which helps get the water oxygenated.

--
Mats

Shannen · Post by **Shannen** » 29 Apr 2005, 13:47

The bog wood is actually the hard/heavy type. But until last night he never even left the side of the tank. He finally went to his hideout, and started hanging on this wood last night for the first time. I am going to supplement the wood with some softer bog wood, My LFS has a good supply of it.

His tummy is not sunken in or hollow looking. He is just not eating at all.

The PH of my tap is lower when it first comes out of the tap. It raises a little after it sits for 24 hrs (I age all of my water change water) and the gas exchange has time to take place. I have 14 tanks and all of them have this PH. So no problems there. It's steady and does not fluctuate. I do have a deionizer that I can use to make the water softer and I will give it a try.

I will also add two bubble wands to help with circulation, and up the temp to 82. I fear going much higher than that until I move some fish around and make room for the dojo in another tank. Thanks for the tip. I'm hoping that he just needs to settle in.

Someone had mentioned to me that I might try smearing the glass with some algae tabs. Think that might help?

kev · Post by **kev** » 29 Apr 2005, 16:44

Matt is right on the water temp, i was in the rio xingu last year and could not belive how warm the water was, what are you try'ng to feed him on?? try him on some potato, cucumber and courgette, i have a 10" columbian royal and he did'nt eat for a few week's but then he started munchin on the veg and the cherry tree branch's in his tank, good luck.

Kev.

Shannen · Post by **Shannen** » 29 Apr 2005, 20:02

No dice with the cucumber, but I never thought about potato. I'll give it a try.

Not sure I have ever heard of courgette, nor do I recall ever seeing it at the store. Is it some sort of veggie?

Post by **medaka** » 29 Apr 2005, 20:54

Hi Shannen

Not sure I have ever heard of courgette,

cant remember what its called in the states

but its similar in appearance to cucumber, only smaller
and a little more solid in the middle..
I'm sure someone will post with the name of it in the states; (hopefully)

BTW, mine used to eat tomatoes and melon rind

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 29 Apr 2005, 21:30

Zuchinni

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 30 Apr 2005, 01:17

Perhaps you could ask the place where you got the fish what they were feeding it. Was it brought in by a previous owner?

kev · Post by **kev** » 30 Apr 2005, 10:37

another thing is, he's new to the tank so he probebly won't eat during the day with you sat looking at him

he might have eating issues. Put a slice of potato in at light's out and check it in the morning.

Kev

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 30 Apr 2005, 19:08

Hey Shan, it's cup. How are things?

As I've instructed you before, don't move the fellar at this point; it will only send him into a prolonged hunger strike, and may likely perish. Glad to see that's he's finally off the glass--try kale and spinach, as well as fibrous vegetables like squash. Good luck with him; Jamie posted a picture in the booth; he's gorgeous.

P.S.: What is the deal with the whole FP fiasco? No one ever brough it up in the chat.

Shannen · Post by **Shannen** » 30 Apr 2005, 22:27

Thanks Pual. No dice with that either. I do believe he may have eaten some algae tabs last night. before lights out I tossed way more than my other fish could eat in and this morning all were gone.

I've not been able to get up to the store (been real sick)so I have not tried the potato yet, but I will get the Ms to pick some up tonight.

Hy cupa, sup man? Yeah I'm gonna get Jamie to get a good salad for him tonight.

FP?...errr..I'll hit you up on AIM when I see you again.

For the rest of PCF here is that pic.

http://photobucket.com/albums/y120/xysh ... lplec5.jpg