Natural Diet

[Void]

Not looking for a specific species diet, merely been wondering lately what the natural diet of a wild pl*co would consist of.

Most of what I've found through personal research is just the baseline of "Algae."
Surely that cannot be all they eat in the wild, can it?

[Richard B]

the loricariid family have some various dietary requirements - some like panaque require wood in the diets, some like hypancistrus, need more meaty foods (shrimp, worms etc). Otocinclus & Farlowella are grazers who eat algae & any micro-organisms living in it. Some graze on the flesh of dead animals, some sift through the mud/silt - in short there are many specific & individual feeding methods & they in no way should be considered just "algae eaters"

[wrasse]

Our understanding of these fish has come on a long way and there's still some way to go. Sources calling them 'algae eaters' are old-fashioned and often misleading. As RichardB described - their diet is as varied as the Loricarridae family itself.

[Void]

Thanks a lot! The baseline of "Algae" seemed way off... Would be kinda like saying humans eat sandwiches. It's true, but it's so much more complicated than that. Again, thanks.

[MatsP]

I wrote an article on feeding plecos, which is in the link to the right (where it says "Articles(1)").

I've also submitted an early draft for the part two for that article series. But it's probably going to be another few weeks until we have an article on the forum.

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Mats

[[email protected]]

Keep in mind that many pleco varieties are quite a few generations removed from the wild, and a wild-type diet may no longer apply. Or even be healthy. While wild-caught varieties may need food close to their original environment to breed and thrive, the common pleco sold at most box pet stores would probably eat anything in the tank and have no clue what to do with wild-type food sources.

Jeff

[MatsP]

I'd say replicating, to your best ability, the natural diet would be the ideal diet.

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Mats

[Void]

Well, what would be some natural type foods you would personally recommend for Common Plecos? And are they one of the ones who need some driftwood in the tank, or not? (L021/pterygoplichthys pardalis I think they are? I could of course be wrong as the petstore tank was unlabeled and I don't often look at plecos, but I think it's the most likely one.)

They're just little, not even two inches (without counting tail.) I have them in a 29 gallon for a few weeks to quarantine them before they go to their final homes.

All I've been able to get them to eat so far is some pieces of sweet grapes and a bit of salad greens. They absolutely refuse to touch the commercial foods I have.

[MatsP]

Have a look at the article that I wrote. It suggests lots of food.

Pterygoplichthys

and most other fish that looks remotely similar will eat most vegetable based foods, whether that is fresh vegetable or some sort of tablets/wafers. I got a free tub of AquaOne vegetable wafers, and they seems quite popular in my RIO400 tank, where I have a few Ancistrus. They don't usually get excited about algae wafers, as there is usually plenty of other food available, but the AquaOne seems to be "tasty".

The other wafer/tablet foods I often use are JBL Novo Pleco and Hikari Algae wafers.

A high protein food in a tub would be JBL Novo Tabs (the ones you can stick to the tank wall).

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Mats

[mod edit: Jools: fixed incorrectly typed clog tag]

[[email protected]]

And are they one of the ones who need some driftwood in the tank, or not? (L021/pterygoplichthys pardalis I think they are? I could of course be wrong as the petstore tank was unlabeled and I don't often look at plecos, but I think it's the most likely one.)

Mine do well on earthworm sticks, zucchini, sweet potato, Hikari algae wafers and whatever else they find in the tank. They don't seem to care about driftwood at all, other than hiding under it, and they do a decent job of keeping algae down. If you don't feed them for a week and then introduce a slice of zucchini I'll bet they go for it. My three (about 5" long now) will devour half a zucchini in 24 hours.

Jeff