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I have some questions about my new fish. I am not sure exactly which Ancistrus it is, so I attached a pic at the bottom of my message. The fish is about 3 inches long, maybe a bit longer. I got the fish because I was told it was a good tank cleaner, and would not get longer than 5 inches long. Plus, I have always wanted a Pleco

I added the fish to a cycled 26g tank that had a brownish algae problem, mostly on the glass. The other fish in the tank are Cherry Barbs, male Guppies, and a Tetra. The Pleco had no hiding spot the first day, and no driftwood because a LFS sold me a piece of driftwood that was nothing more than fresh cut cedar. The first night it was in the tank, the fish worked the graveyard shift and had the tank walls looking wonderful. I was really amazed at how well it ate the algae. With no place to hide, the fish was very erratic for that first 24 hours. The next day, I got driftwood from another location and also bought some slate rock to make a cave that is about six inches long, two inches deep, and two inches wide.

I then started dropping in one Hikari algae wafer every other night when I put all the lights out and not thinking twice about it. The Pleco spends all day in the cave, or hanging on the piece of driftwood. My Plec's algae eating ability has gone down since he has been in the tank, and I wondered if he bothers to check the glass at all since getting the wafers. I decided to check on the wafer one night to see him eat it. I grabbed the flashlight, shined it in in the tank... And my Guppies and Barbs were crowded around the wafer in the dark. I then started checking the wafers for a few days and I have never once seen the Pleco eating a wafer. I am farily certain the small fish eat it until it disolves into the gravel.

Now, the questions When I first got the Pleco and it ate algae like crazy, was it likely starved at the LFS? If my Pleco does not appear to be cleaning the glass, or eating the wafers, is he actually eating the driftwood? Can I safely assume that the fish will not starve himself sick as long as there is algae on the glass? Is there any clean food that a Pleco just can not resist and my other fish will leave alone?

Any other general points here would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

*Pic may load slow during afternoon hours*

Your fish looks like Ancistrus triradiatus. As for the feeding part, I'm not sure what you mean by the algae-eating ability diminishing. Has your algae all grown back? Bear in mind that it's sometimes difficult to expect the fish to graze off all the algae in the tank.
Presumably, the fish is eating something (algae, maybe the wafers when you're not looking?), or else, you would have noticed it by now (sunken belly and all).
I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hi!

Maybe you want to host the pic some place else as it doesnt load at all here...tried a couple of times...

It's the * in the pleco thing. Replace the * with an e (opening the image in a new window), and it should be fine.

I renamed the image so hopefully it will work right now for everyone. I also freed up a some bandwidth that may have prevented people from getting the pic as well.

When I say the algae eating has diminished, I mean the algae grows back a little at a time and does not get eaten right away. For the first few days, any new algae growth was eaten the same night, every night. Now little patches can develop and make it a few days w/o getting eaten. No big deal to me, just posting that up in case it matters.

I really do not think the fish is getting to the wafers. I would say I have checked five or six times and never once even seen the wafers move. Eventually the wafers turn to a blob and go away into the rocks. He might go suck on the rocks afterwards though and get the mush.

He might go suck on the rocks afterwards though and get the mush.

That is entirely posible. I have a rubbernose that will almost anything I put in the tank, including micro-granules and flakes meant for other fish. It will swim about sucking on the gravel until it gets to the food.

My Pleco finally figured out the algae wafers. If I turn off the light and drop one in the tank (split in half), he gets on the wafers within a few miniutes before the other fish wander by and start eating.

My tank has some brownish algae growth on the back glass. I am now starting to get green algae on my slate rocks and plants, which is what I have been trying for by leaving my tank lights on for a long time each day.

On nights when the Pleco gets a wafer, the algae on the glass never gets touched. I think the Pleco eats his wafer, then goes and sits on the driftwood for the rest of the night and does not bother cleaning the tank. If I do not put a wafer in the tank, the Pleco has about a 50% chance of eating most of the algae on the glass, which then grows back slowly over a couple days. I guess he only cleans the glass when he is hungry? I was thinking about only feeding the Pleco when the fish has been cleaning the glass. All of the wafers are turning the fish into a poop factory as well, so I want to avoid overfeeding.

How often should I put the wafers in the tank? The fish is about three inches long.

You can put the wafers in only after the algae on the glass gets eaten, if that is what you want.
Otherwise, I'd say a wafer every other day should be fine.

One more question. Does my fish actually chew on and eat the driftwood I have in the tank, or just just sit on it all night?

One more question. Does my fish actually chew on and eat the driftwood I have in the tank, or just just sit on it all night?

Both.