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Am I a bad owner

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 14:25
by doesdavid
I have about 25 pleco 10 different species from the very common to a few rare. About 15 of these are juvies (under 3"0 in 1 tank) but the rest are adults ranging in size from 8" - 15"(Dino a large commom)spread out in my other tanks. They keep my tanks clean and are fun to watch with some of the things they do. However I've read in the different forums how it seems everyone is feeding them veggies and other foods daily. I add cucumber, zucccini and other veggies about once a week and let whoever wants to eat it, have at them. Other then that they work the walls, habitats, and bottoms. Plus they eat both the sinking, and floating food I put in for the regular fish. Do they need the fresh veggies daily, or is this method of feeding okey. They seen happy, they keep growing, and my tanks are kept clean.

DAve

Re: Am I a bad owner

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 14:38
by Bas Pels
to answer your guestion, I don't think you make any mistake

Just as you, I have my Plecos - Pterogoblichthys gibbyceps, Pt walleri (I think, can be punctatus), Pt pardalis, Ancistrus distributed over several tanks. I never give them special things

They do eat leftovers, and feed on the algae. The tanks are rather large, so plenty algae to feed on

So, if you are bad, I'm worse

I think the zucchini and so on is needed in a pleco special tank - with 6 or 8 fish in it

Re: Am I a bad owner

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 19:23
by Birger
The biggest thing is that pleco's do not all eat the same diet...some are strictly vegetarians(algea,zuchini) while others are carnivorous(shrimp,pieces of fish)then you have the ones that could use a mixed diet, you need to look up each species particular dietary requirements and then go from there. You may find what you are doing is fine.
Temperature also plays a key role in keeping many pleco's healthy so you may want to double check that as well, for example it is difficult to keep Ancistrus ranunculus or some of the baryancistrus sp. eating if kept at too low a temperature even if you are feeding them the ideal foods.

Birger