Ive noticed that most people feed their plecos vegetables from time to time. I took a piece of driftwood out of my tank recently and my clown pleco has been looking pretty hungry lately. (the driftwood will be returning very soon, its soaking) I understand that you have to blanch veggies first but I could use a little help. I first put in raw cucumber. It floats, no good. Then I blanced some zucchini, still floated, no good. Next I blanched the snot out of some zucchini and it finally sank. But nothing has touched it in two days. Ive got a clown pleco(L104), candystripe pleco (L015), hillstream loach, and a golden algae eater. I noticed the zucchini was a little soft when I put it in the tank, I thought that blanching firmed the flesh. So how long do you boil when you blanch? How long do you leave the uneaten stuff in the tank? And Ive read different articles that recommend fresh veggies, is there anything that I can put in that will sink, or does everything need to be blanched.
Thanks in advance
Feeding Veggies
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Grubby Sculpin
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MatsP
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Ok, there's two things to this question:
1. making sure the vegetables are at the level where the fish eats them. This is best done by weighting them or gettinga suction cup holder for the vegies. I personally like the "teaspoon method", which simply means that you stick a teaspoon through some suitable part of the vegetable.
2. Blanching. I believe the exact cookery method of blanching actually means "cooking for a short period", i.e just bring it to the boil and pour off the water. Whether this is necessary or not and it's benefits is depending on what vegetable, what fish and personal preference (probably with importance in the order of enumerating).
I find that my bristlenoses eat zuchini fine without blanching. The baby bristlenoses need a bit softer material, so I blanch the zuchini for them (which at the moment means that the parents get blanched too, since a half-inch slice is enough for both babies and parents for a day).
I've also got clown pleco's (Panaque Maccus). They eat "raw" zuchini, and they prefer the skin from the actual "meat" of the fruit. I've used both blanched and raw zuchini for them, and they seem to be happy with either.
I've given the bristlenoses some sweet potato. Wouldn't touch it raw, but once I'd cooked it for a few minutes they ate it like it quite nicely.
Finally, if you use the 'tea-spoon' method of weighting the vegetables, you'll need a "spoon-picker upper", which is a suitable length of firm steel-wire with a hook at the end to avoid having to stick your hand/arm into the tank every time you pick up the spoon. [I've also bought a separate set of cheap tea-spoons so that I can bend then to a suitable shape without getting told off by other family members.]
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Mats
1. making sure the vegetables are at the level where the fish eats them. This is best done by weighting them or gettinga suction cup holder for the vegies. I personally like the "teaspoon method", which simply means that you stick a teaspoon through some suitable part of the vegetable.
2. Blanching. I believe the exact cookery method of blanching actually means "cooking for a short period", i.e just bring it to the boil and pour off the water. Whether this is necessary or not and it's benefits is depending on what vegetable, what fish and personal preference (probably with importance in the order of enumerating).
I find that my bristlenoses eat zuchini fine without blanching. The baby bristlenoses need a bit softer material, so I blanch the zuchini for them (which at the moment means that the parents get blanched too, since a half-inch slice is enough for both babies and parents for a day).
I've also got clown pleco's (Panaque Maccus). They eat "raw" zuchini, and they prefer the skin from the actual "meat" of the fruit. I've used both blanched and raw zuchini for them, and they seem to be happy with either.
I've given the bristlenoses some sweet potato. Wouldn't touch it raw, but once I'd cooked it for a few minutes they ate it like it quite nicely.
Finally, if you use the 'tea-spoon' method of weighting the vegetables, you'll need a "spoon-picker upper", which is a suitable length of firm steel-wire with a hook at the end to avoid having to stick your hand/arm into the tank every time you pick up the spoon. [I've also bought a separate set of cheap tea-spoons so that I can bend then to a suitable shape without getting told off by other family members.]
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Mats