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I was just wonder what sort of preperation you people use when feeding pl*cos zuchinni.

Do you cut it in circle or cubes??
If cut in circles how thin/thick???
Do you take the skin off??
How much do you feed per pl*co?(Adult sized/12inches)


Thanks in advance.

It depends on the girth of each peice, as to how I cut it up.
If the peice is quite small I usually cut it in half and attach a screwcumber to it.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/pp_screwcumber.php
, and if the peice is quite thick I cut a section througth the middle then cut this in half and again attach a screwcumber to it.

Depending on the size of the plecs im feeding i either slice off rings about 1 cm (.5 inch) wide and push a teaspoon through it before dropping straight into tank.

Or a cut a whole one in half then in half again lengthwise (giving 4 quaters in effect) then push a teaspoon through each quater and drop into tank.

I grow my own so I know they are free of chemicals etc, shop bought ones should be rinsed throughly first but otherwise my fish seem to like them just plain and raw.

Some pics here...

http://mikesfishing.com/pleco/foods_and_feeding.htm
http://mikesfishing.com/pleco/ancistrus.htm

I usually add it just before lights out in the evening then remove any leftovers the next morning, although there is rarely anything to remove. Interestingly my clown loaches also get stuck into the zuchinni, making a very audable clicking sound as the pluck bits off, and one of my Blue Diamond Discus likes it too.

You can also try...
Pumpkin - I add a small chunk raw again, results in lots of strings of bright orange poop the next morning.
Peas - usually cooked ones leftover from dinner, they allways seem to dissapear quickly and its kinda funny watching the BN's chase them as they roll about the tank.

The general idea here is to give your pleco's enough food, without too much leftovers... One 12" pleco may well eat half a small to medium courgette overnight. But try with a smaller piece first, you don't want to let too much go to waste...

My gold-nuggets, clown pleco's and Peckoltias seem to prefer the skin rather than the inside of the zucchini.

You want to cut it in a way that to some extent exposes the inside part, just in case your fish don't like the skin part, but I wouldn't take the skin off completely. I'm sure the fish don't really mind which way you cut it, length-wise or across, as long as it can get to the bits it wants to eat...

Check out my article on feeding, which has several other ideas for food...

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Mats

My 2 common pl*cs will only eat it if its par boiled (same goes with shelled peas and they will only eat green leaves if frozen first!!!)

Just let them starve for a day or two, and they will eat more things

--
Mats

to be honest i do think i am over feeding them because they never eat their food straight away and we don't see them eating that often, plus they are so fussy they wont ear pellets only the waffers,

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will probably do that spoon trick and buy some of those screw things eventually.

I tried feeding them last night and the two pl*cos in the one tank didn't eat any but that could be because one was floating in the morning and I might of put to much other food that they are use to.

My other tank though the sailfin pl*co ate about half of it(all of the skin) and was still eating it this morning so I left it there.

I took the other pieces out of my other tank and am going to try that spoon trick tonight.

Again thanks for the help.