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just wondering,
in your experience, which one would the pleco, specifically gibby and bristlenose like better.
zuchini or cucumber..
because this is the 1st time i'm feeding them zuchini..
hey seem to be ignoring it for now..
but if i put in a cucumber... they would immediately attack the cucumbe,r,,,

You should try to get them eating both for more variety. It's not uncommon for fish to ignore zuchinni the first couple of feedings.

First couple of times, try sticking a few of the fishes favorite algae disks into the zuchinni. The fish will likely feed on these and not stop once it's tasted the zuchinni and realized it's food. They will very quickly learn to accept it without baiting.

You can/should try to- also add sliced yams or sweet potatoes, these are generally immediately accepted.

Either will do! None has more nutrients then the other. If they love Cucumber then let them have it! Why change? I would just let them be happy with Cucumber.



G.

Broccoli stems work very well. It lasts a long time in the tank without the mess of squash.

Mark

thanks for the advice:)

i bought zuchinis and cucumbers foe them...
i usually feed them hikari algae wafers...
but i'm worried that i'm underfeeding?
i just throw in a wafer at night..
don't know if its enough since i have 5 bns in my tank..
they are about 1-2 inches.
is a wafer enough?
i left 2 slices of zuchinis in the tank... hope they all get to eat:)

btw are albinos more sensitive than the common ones?

I have a pair of Bristnoses that absolutely love zucchini and yellow squash. I have been told that pl*co's can not digest the seeds in a cucumber, but they have no trouble with the zucchini's seeds. Both the squash and zucchini are great because they are so easy; no boiling or freezing is needed to soften them to the point that the herbivores in my tanks can eat them. However, neither is particularly rich in nutrional value, so I feed blanched collard greens as a staple with spirulina tablets used as a supplement. The zucchini is a couple times a week treat for them.

Hmm Interesting! Seeds are normally left behind in my tanks and it's the centre and skin which is devoured.



G.

when feeding my plecos cucumber..
the seeds gets left behind:)


the bristlenose seems to have eaten the zuchini...
not sure.. though...
will zuchini dissolve in water???
or did my bns eat the zuchinis?


until now my gibby still ignores the zuchini...

Zucchini doesn't dissolve. It will, however, turn into a bouyant, green mush. Check your filter to make sure its not full of zucchini Jell-O. Yellow squash holds up better in the tank, but anything not gone in a couple days gets removed. Best guess, the B-N's munched the zucchini. Also, some pl*c's love the stuff, others won't eat it. I have a clown and a butterfly in another tank and neither is particularly keen on the zucchini. The clown will eat it, but not with the enthusiasm of the B-N's. The butterfly won't touch it, or at least I haven't seen him on it. Give the collard greens a shot. They are much more nutrionally dense than anything in the squash family.

Like my post above! Either will do! Zucchini dont mush? Hmm same as Cucumber!! How weird! It will turn soft but you never keep it in your tank for more than 12 hours in my opinion!


G.

Ever fish in my tank eats Zucchini. They will not touch it in the first 24 hours. After 24 hours they just atack it. I have two Comman Pl*cos, 4 cory's, two Pacu's, Red tail shark, two snails and a banjo cat all eating on it. They can eat a big chunk of it in no time. I rubber band it to a rock on the bottom of the tank. I tried cucumber but I could smell it in the water so I don't feed them that no more. I even feed them green beans once they kinda like it but left some in the tank I had to clean up.

How do you feed the collard greens?

I always thought that zucchini was a squash. I'll have to try that too, the brocolli stems. What about asparagus stems (the harder part like you would for brocolli stems)? Has anyone tried that before? Also, I have tried frozen green beans for my juvenille bushynose plecos, they love it. Althought when I fed it, the bigger of the two tried to bully its smaller albino sibling. =-/ So I guess next time I'll give more than just one green bean.

Troi

Cucumber = melon characteristics/family, resides in some sandwiches
Zucchini = weird way of saying courgette
Yellow Squash = haven't a clue, anyone got a pic???

Ron

What do you do with the harder stuff like broccoli before you feed it - freeze, microwave?

I have just got 6 otocinclus over the weekend, and they are taking to cucumber like ducks to the water, but I havent tried anything else yet.

Frank

someone told me feeding collard greens, spinach and parsely maybe bad for fish do to the high oxalic acid content.

Feeding the broccoli is very easy. I just cut the stem off and rubberband it to a rock. The plecos pick at it for 2 or 3 days. The broccoli does not have to be frozen or microwaved. I believe the broccoli has a greater nutritional value than squash.
Mark

fmueller,

What you can try to do is blanching the stems. Boil some water first, then drop the stems in for a few minutes, take out, and put into ice water which should stop the stems from being further cooked. Just your typical cooking know-how.

Troi

Cooking is one of my other hobbies, so I am familiar with blanching. BTW - you can do that very nicely in the microwave. I might just try it with some broccoli right now!

Would anybody like some fish recipies?

i read somewhere on this site that kale was one of the best foods for vegetarian plecs. straight from the freezer. weighed down with a pebble. my whiptails are all over it as we speak!

I had the broccoli in for several hours now. It's in the same spot the cucumber was before, and my otos keep exploring it, but there doesn't seem to be the same enthusiasm there was for the cucumber.

However, I have put in a baby carrot (blanched in the microwave) at the other end of the tank. Two otos were on it within seconds. It's been in there for about 15min, and they haven't left it yet

My wife suggested if they have a sweet tooth for carrots, watermelon might be a hit

While I am writing this, two seem to have fallen in love with the broccoli. Maybe they just need to warm up to it. I don't think I ever had so much fun feeding any fish

Summer (Yellow) Squash



I've never heard of any negative effects from feeding collards. In fact, two articles on this site list kale and collard greens as great foods for the Farlowella species. When feeding, I blach the greens first. Then, I submerge them in the aquarium and give them a good squeeze to release any trapped air and they sink to the bottom.

Ahhh so thats yellow squash, how weird.....never seen it being sold here in the UK. Wonder what it tastes like. I wonder if they have any on eBay!!

Ron

yellow squash is very similar in taste to the green variety. Once peeled the pulp is a little bit more dense than the green.
Mark

never seen it being sold here in the UK.

you can probably get it from places like waitrose when it's in season. quite sweet, almost like pumpkin. makes a cracking soup.

Yams or Sweet Potatoes....
How do you feed these? Raw or Cooked?
I tried some raw and none of my plecos seemed to like it. I even tried pressing algae wafers into it. They just ate out the algae wafers.
Any suggestions?

Our vegetarian feed:

Collard Greens: about the highest protein content among green leafy veg. Nice part is the strong vein structure keeps the leaf from flying apart. Rinse, DRY and layer between sheets of waxed paper and then place in the freezer. Two days of freeze and then place in tank using veggie clip. (BN fry, Sturisoma fry, Hemoloricaria fry, Clown fry) Even adult omnivores will appreciate a break from the worms.

Zuchinni/Courgette/Yellow Squash: slice into long wedges and remove seeds/pulp, thern freeze. weight with non-toxic plant weights. Buy small squash and you will have less pulp. Most fish dig the rinds anyway. (BN, sturisoma, clowns, 177's) Nutritionally, squash is a better bet than cucumber. Check the vitamin/protein content. Cucumbers contain much more water per volume.

Frozen Soy Beans: blanch to soften, squeeze beans to husk them, then re-freeze. These drop to the bottom and are very easy to clean up. (BN, sturisoma, hemoloricaria, clowns) Green peas work as well, but it is much more work to shell them.

All foods are purchased from ORGANIC grocery, or are home grown. After losing entire batches of BN fry after feeding supermarket zuchinni, I no longer trust "a good washing" of grocery vegetables. (Yet another way to keep the dreaded surplus zuchinni away from the human dinner menu!)

We prepare these foods in bulk and keep them frozen. Freezing helps to bust up the cell membranes to make the veg easier to eat, but keeps the stuff from dissolving too quickly in the tank.

We also tracked growth rates with BN fry raised on collards, hikari wafer and collard/wafer mix. The mixed feed produced dramatically better results over either one singly.

Variety is the spice of life...

sorry, forgot to answer the original question...

If the pleco is healthy, a day or two without food is no big deal. Introduce the new food for three days running, and anything listed in this thread is eventually accepted. I have never had BN fail to eat any of our feeds after a few days. Given a choice, hikari wafers are usually preferred. Once the BN get their fill, other food is left to rot.

And, don't forget natural algae. We keep a pile of stones in a well lighted tank, fertilized to grow java fern/moss etc...When these acquire a nice coat of good algae, not beard, or hair, they are dropped into BN tanks, and inevitably are cleaned off before other food is touched.

My bns really love the zuchini they finish it off in no time..
and sticking a hikari algae wafer into the zuchini worked..../
my gibby now also eats the zuchini! . thanks!!