How often should I feed my plecos

pete · Post by **pete** » 06 Dec 2003, 23:04

Have got 2 tanks with plecos
One with a 5 inch gibbiceps and 2 inch panaque,
one with a clown and gold nugget both 2.5 inches
I feed once daily with either corgette (zuchni) potato, pellet or algae wafer.
I put 2 slices of cogette in the gibby's tank one in the nugget's tank and remove whats left in the morning
I am wondering if I am over feeding as the water tank with the gibby is a little cloudy
will they be OK with feeding every other day all the fish are doing well and ntrates ect are low.
Both tanks have external filters the gibby tank has an addtional internal one. I do a 50% water change every 10 days.

pete

Cheese Specialist · Post by **Cheese Specialist** » 06 Dec 2003, 23:15

Hi Pete,

I don't specialise in plecos, as you seem to (big collection!) but I only feed all my fish once every second day. I have live plants etc if anyone is hungry, I also feed spinach on Wednesdays and meaty stuff (tubifex, bloodwrorms or the like) on the weekend as well. My fish's health has improved dramatically in that they are much more active. Also, my water cleared up no end! I had problems with algae and cloudiness but that all went.

Post by **Shane** » 07 Dec 2003, 00:00

Pete,
This is a tough one to answer as there are so many loricariids (the entire family in fact) that fit the description pleco. Some, like Farlowella, Sturisoma, and Otocinclus need to have veggies available at all times. Others like veggies once or twice a week and still others will not touch them at all. Those that are predominately algae eaters will need food far more often than those that eat meaty foods. Basically, and this holds true for all animals, the less nutritional their diet is the more they need to eat.
Your Glyptopterichthys will eat anything, algae or protein, and should eat every day. The Panaque eats wood, and must eat constantly, because wood has very little nutrition. Wood should form the main part of the Panaque's diet with a big portion of veggies once or twice a week and protein once every week or two.
I assume by clown pleco you mean one of the smaller Panaque sp.? If so, his/her diet should be the same as the Panaque above. The gold nugget has requirements similar to that of the Glytopterichthys.
As you can see, the two Panaque would be better off together and the Glyptopterichthys would do better with the gold nugget.
Why do you remove the cucumber the next day? The algae eaters are grazers and need to eat little bits here and there over time. Just rubberband half a cucumber, zucchini, or whatever to a rock and toss the thing in. They will eat it all over the week. The tank may cloud a little the day after feeding veggies but will clear up in a few hours.
You also did not say what size your tanks are, what other tankmates the fish have, or what type of filtration you use. If you are stocking your tanks like most of us do (i.e. probably a few more fish than is ideal) I would up the water changes.
This is especialy necessary with the wood eaters like Panaque. I have a 40 gallon right now with four adult Panaque albomaculatus (about 6-7 inches each). Filtration is a sponge filter rated at 40 gallons, a Biowheel 330, a Powerhead (Penguin 165 rated at 170 gph) with a 40 gallon sponge filter attached and an extra Rio 600 (260 gph) powerhead for current. Despite that fact that this should be enough filtration for a 120 gallon tank, I find myself doing 70 percent water changes every 5-6 days just to keep the filters from clogging with sawdust.
Cheese Specialist is correct that most of us tend to overfeed, but "grazers," like many loricariids, need to eat pretty much all the time.
-Shane

pete · Post by **pete** » 07 Dec 2003, 12:20

Hi Shane and cheese specialist thanks for your replies, I learned a lot from them

I knew that Panques liked bogwood but did not realise it was the main part of their diet.
The Gibbiceps and Panaque Nigrolineatus are in a 36 by 15 by 18inch tank (about 35 gallons ) with a meduim external filter (eheim 2233) with siporax medium and carbon and a ehiem small internal filter with sponge.There a about 12 other fish in this tank, tetras barbs and 4 angel fish.
It looks like I may need to add a powerhead or something to give a stronger current as the ehiem 2233 does not have a high flow rate (5 watt motor)
I realise eventually that I will need a bigger tank.
There are 4 pieces of bogwood in the tank, we get two types of bogwood in the UK the Mopani decorative type which is very hard am not sure if the fish are able to get much from this but they do chew on it and what I call normal bogwood which is softer and can be scaped with a fingernail I have got both types in the tank.
The clown plec is a Peckoltia vittata (I should have said) and the Gold nugget is the one with larger spots. These are in a 24 by 12 by 15 inch tank filtered also by a ehiem 2233.There is a piece of bogwood in this tank too.
These live with about 10 other fish, tetras guppies and two corys.
I will up the water changes to weekly to be on the safe side and get another powerhead or filter to up the water current in the Gibby tank.
Will the discoloration (tannin) from the bogwood affect the Panaque ? I read that these fish come from fast clear streams. I do use carbon in the filter which helps keep the water clear.

Post by **Shane** » 07 Dec 2003, 14:58

Pete,
Remember to strike a balance between the needs of all the fishes. Adding too much current for the loricariids might not be good for the angels. The tannins in the water are a good thing for all fishes as long as they are not so strong that they are making a blackwater environment (i.e. your tank looks like it is filled with black coffee).
Panaque nigrolineatus can be found in clear or whitewaters. Young fish stay near the banks feeding at driftwood snags while larger, adult, fish stay in the deeper parts of the river feeding in and around sunken logs.
Mary Powers did a paper on this topic studying Ancistrus. Here thesis (and I think it is a good one) was that as loricariids get larger, the chance of finding food in shallow waters is not worth the risk of being seen by a predator. Younger fish, since they are smaller and harder to see, find that it is worth the risk to eat in the shallows. For many loricariids, the shallows is the ideal place to eat. The shallow water blocks out less sunlight and allows more algae to grow which equals more food. So the shallower the water, the more food, but also the more likely a crane will see you and eat you.
-Shane