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I thought people might be interested in the fork method of pleco feeding, since there's been more than one thread about how to weigh down vegetables. I think the pic is pretty much self-explanatory. It's probably best not to use the family silverware for this:

How utterly civilised!......hold on one of them is a dessert fork not a salad fork!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha

I use the fork(s) to position and/or hold down cucumber, courgette, mussels and prawns. This particular pleco will check out anything that's impaled on a fork.

Richard B wrote:one of them is a dessert fork not a salad fork

Are you suggesting that Godzilla has BAD TABLE MANNERS?????

Nothing could be further from the truth. Here she is about to get started on some zucchini; she likes the skin better than the interior for some unknown reason:

Is the courgette (zucchini) raw or blanched slightly? or anything other?

It's raw but she has no trouble coping. She takes deep gouges out of it. I'll post a pic shortly.

I don't know how much it is in the UK right now but zuchinni over here is about 1.89 usd a pound. When you've got only a part time job at the moment it has to wait. I'm hoping it'll be cheaper in the summer, and that I'll have a full time job. But I love the fact that you use the forks. That will make it much easier.

I use a spoon, less pointy parts for them to injure themselves on.

SOBERKITTY - i don't know what the climate is like in Atlanta but you could try growing your own - my dad grows them, actually cucumbers & courgettes - it might be worth a shot (?)

Okay guys the cucumbers were cheap today at the market so I got one. I'll have to see if they like it. I took the seeds out so they don't make a mess in the filter and i wasn't sure if Freckles would like them. And as for growing them I'm in a one bedroom apartment, and about to move. But I might try after I get my own place again. I use to grow herbs w/ out much problem.

Around here, we have outdoor markets, and around closingtime prices drop - they dislike repacking the stuff.

Besides, your courgette does not have to be fresh, does it? This might enable you to make a deal with a local supplier - you buy unsellable courgette for half the normal price

We have farmers markets in the US. But they are not always a better deal. Sometimes I think ya'll have it much better on the other side of the atlantic.

SOBERKITTY wrote:We have farmers markets in the US. But they are not always a better deal. Sometimes I think ya'll have it much better on the other side of the atlantic.

Having spent enough time in the US to have SOME idea, and also lived in two different countries for more than ten years in each place, I can say that most of that is probably "the grass is greener the other side of the fence" syndrom - you only see the things you don't like in your country as better in another place where it's different. But once you live in some other place, you also get to see the other parts, which aren't necessarily so great. I always get upset with the papers that explain how much better Belgium, France or whatever country is compared to England. But they actually pick the cherries out of the cake, comparing for example car-prices, petrol prices or price of beef, without actually accounting for the fact that other components of the overall personal finances or benefits also matter when you actually live in the country. Yes, it would be cheaper to live somewhere else in Europe if you could pick the cheapest place to buy each individual bit of your food, car, house purchase. But everything isn't necessarily better at all times.

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Mats

If you would life where everything were cheaper, most likely you would also make less - and still spen half your time at work to pay for your house and car.

SOBERKITTY wrote:zuchinni over here is about 1.89 usd a pound

Here it costs £0.90 per pound, which is about US $1.80 depending on the current exchange rate. So not much different, really. I've lived in Canada, the US and the UK and I would say MatsP is right.

SOBERKITTY wrote:Okay guys the cucumbers were cheap today at the market so I got one. I'll have to see if they like it.

It might take them a few days- my sailfin plec took a couple of weeks to learn that cucumber or courgette slices were food, but now glides over every time I stick my arm in the tank to see if there's a new offering. The Ancistrus sp.3 took slightly less time to learn that it was food and will suck my hand if I'm too slow giving them their food; the Panaque maccus literally took over 2 months to recognise it as food. Once they find out what it is they should love it, but some fish seem to take a while to recognise it as food.

I Personally like to use stainless barbeque skewers I have been known to make little kebabs for them, Steamed carrot, Zuccini, a little bell pepper, variety is the spice of life after all.

Make sure you wash your zuccini well, to avoid nasty sprays being introduced to your tank.

Also if you find winter expensive for fresh veges for em, steam up a bunch of veg, blend em up add agar and freeze.

Geletin works too but is more likely to dissolve fast in the tank and make a mess.

oh believe me I know about the grass being green. And we're catching up on the "petrol" gas prices. We're at about 3.10 a gallon here in GA for Regular unleaded.
Well the ottos love the cucumber. Freckles has still not ivestigated it. I'm not sure I should put anymore in the tank right now I just realized I have ick in my 29gallon. Would it still be okay or just add to an already bad situation. My chinese algea eater was trying to get past the water line. So I investigated and saw white spots on him and my and one of my glass fish. Poor fishies!

SOBERKITTY wrote: And we're catching up on the "petrol" gas prices. We're at about 3.10 a gallon here in GA for Regular unleaded.

approx. the same stuff costs 1.50 euros - currently 2 US $ here

Bas Pels wrote:

SOBERKITTY wrote: And we're catching up on the "petrol" gas prices. We're at about 3.10 a gallon here in GA for Regular unleaded.

approx. the same stuff costs 1.50 euros - currently 2 US $ here

Yes, that's for a liter tho, a US gal. is 3.8L -> $2 * 3.8 -> $7.60.

--
Mats

Carp37 wrote:my sailfin plec took a couple of weeks to learn that cucumber or courgette slices were food

Does your sailfin eat the outside of courgette like mine does?

Yeah the math equation Mats did would be $2 x 3.8 (units) not (1) 3.8 liter. I can't do math w/ the flu folks. Anyway what I think mats was trying to say is that 3.10 usd is 2.36 euro and 1.60 gbp. Approxomitely. So 4 liters cost 6.40 gbp which is a bit more then a gallon. Would be about 12.36 USD. So you guys are still way more in the petrol arena but this is the first time in GA we've gone over 3.00 authentically. There was that price gouging after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans but I don't count that.

Okay guys gotta go do a water change. Lost the algea eatter last night. It was weird he died last night and he was flakey when I moved him. Like all his scales fell off. He was slightly bloated and pink around the gills. Anyway he was the oldest member of the tank at 4 years old. I don't know how long they live but that seems like a good age for a fish besides he was getting fiesty chasing everyone.

CanadaPleco wrote:I use a spoon, less pointy parts for them to injure themselves on.

This is what I use with great results. I have a few with slim handles that I run completely through their food, and they're holding down the scraps from a whole pineapple I carved-up as I type this..

It did take them a while to identify over-ripe fruit as food though, since they're more accustomed to yams & hard squashes!

Simian wrote:I Personally like to use stainless barbeque skewers I have been known to make little kebabs for them, Steamed carrot, Zuccini, a little bell pepper, variety is the spice of life after all.

That's a fantastic idea! That way there's no metal getting in the way of they're feeding at all..

My spoons were free though...heh

i would recommend using spoons instead of forks. glenny, a member of this board has lost an L134 which got chased away from the courgette and swum right into the fork, and died...

is use little thea spoons, like this:

What a way to loose a fish. That sucks. (pardon the pun) If you look at the first picture though the tines of the fork are not exposed. They are also pointing downward so even if the fish exposed the fork the tines would still be point down in the substrate. Also I never leave mine in the tank for more then 12 hours. And never overnight.