Feeding carnivorous/omnivorous plecos

[mcesario]

Hi all,

I own some carnivorous/omnivorous plecos (Hypancistrus Inspector, L340, Hemiancistrus subviridis) and was wondering how to supplement their diet.

Where I live I do not have much options for commercial products, but we have some options from Sera: Vipachips, Wells Chips and O-Nips.

Does anyone can recommend any of these products or any other form of aliment that I can give them?

Thanks and regards,
Marcelo

[mcesario]

Anyone? Thanks!

[bekateen]

Hi mcesario,

Did you already read the Shane's world articles and Catfish of the Month (COTM) articles on these fishes?

• For
  Hypancistrus inspector
  , there is this: Notes on keeping and spawning Hypancistrus inspector
• For
  Hypancistrus sp(l340)
  , there is this: COTM May 2008: LDA019, L340, Mega Clown Pleco - Hypancistrus sp. (L340)
• For
  Hemiancistrus subviridis
  , if you look at the two breeding logs (here and here) for this species, algae seems to be sufficient. Its species page (here) says simply that it is omnivorous and should be given a variety of foods.

For more personal experiences regarding these fishes, you can try the Forum Search tool (here) with keywords like the species name and "diet" or "feeding" or "conditioning" (except you don't need to put the words in quotes; I did that here just for clarity). For example, here are the results for the name Hemiancistrus subviridis and the word shrimp: ...forum/search.php?keywords=Hemiancistrus+subviridis+shrimp.

In general, it seems to me that a number of these sources mention frozen adult brine shrimp as a good food for conditioning the fish. Also, when you say "supplement" their diet, do you mean adding a special food in addition to some normal daily food routine you are already using for them? If so, I've read that some people here use shrimp (fresh or frozen) as food supplements for carnivorous plecos.

Cheers, Eric

[mcesario]

Thank you so much for all the links!

Best regards,
Marcelo