Golden Nugget Plec, What Should I Feed It

[jamesmacc]

hi folks, hope you all had a good cristmas. my parents kindly brought me a surprise home yesterday, a golden nugget plec. i have read they need high protein in their diet. i only have new life spectrum cichlid food just now which i feed to my malawis, this has quite high protein in it. i have ordered sinking wafers and bloodworm pellets for him. i also read they will eat cucumber. is there anything else i should feed him or any other advise.
cheers,
james

 

[snazy]

As a start, they are wood eating species, so drift wood is a must.

 

[finchfarm]

I've never had a Gold Nugget Plec, but most of mine have taken sinking algae discs and shrimp pellets. You could try some fruits and veggies too... I don't know how mine felt on the fruit/veggies, as when I put stuff like that in the Silver Dollars usually got it first.

 

[jamesmacc]

As a start, they are wood eating species, so drift wood is a must.

already got some mate. cheers

 

[snazy]

I copied this from planet catfish,L018, L085, L177, LDA060)



These fish are grazers, but not in the sense that they eat only vegetation. They actually sift and chew at the film of organic matter on hard surfaces in search of higher protein foods. In the wild this would constitute a variety of foods from small insect larvae and crustaceans to other animals eggs and possibly even recently dead animals. With this in mind, frozen foods such as bloodworm and blackworm should be offered along with frozen prawns. Algae and plants are avoided, but cucumber and courgette appear on the accepted menu. Accepted food morsel size changes with age in all of these fish. Best results are obtained by offer these foods in a paste. The very long intestine of these fishes indicates a biology adapted to breaking down food high in vegetable content.

 

[xingumike]

As a start, they are wood eating species, so drift wood is a must.

^ Completely wrong, ignore this, unless I have missed a massive rethinking of Baryancistrus diet? I haven't by the way.

Cut and paste from PC

''These fish are grazers, but not in the sense that they eat only vegetation. They actually sift and chew at the film of organic matter on hard surfaces in search of higher protein foods. In the wild this would constitute a variety of foods from small insect larvae and crustaceans to other animals eggs and possibly even recently dead animals. With this in mind, frozen foods such as bloodworm and blackworm should be offered along with frozen prawns. Algae and plants are avoided, but cucumber and courgette appear on the accepted menu. Accepted food morsel size changes with age in all of these fish. Best results are obtained by offer these foods in a paste. The very long intestine of these fishes indicates a biology adapted to breaking down food high in vegetable content.''

The first few weeks are crucial for Nuggets, they are very hard to keep alive in a tank. The above paste that is mentioned is vegetable matter, bits of protein, wafers etc all mashed together and painted on a rock using egg white to bind, this is then left to dry on and the fish will hopefully then graze this off. If it works, repeat ad infinitum. The wood you have is a good place for biofilm to grow on for them but I repeat they are not wood eaters.

They like the higher end of the scale temperature wise as well, 25 as a minimum, up to 30.

Good luck

 

[jamesmacc]

I copied this from planet catfish,L018, L085, L177, LDA060)



These fish are grazers, but not in the sense that they eat only vegetation. They actually sift and chew at the film of organic matter on hard surfaces in search of higher protein foods. In the wild this would constitute a variety of foods from small insect larvae and crustaceans to other animals eggs and possibly even recently dead animals. With this in mind, frozen foods such as bloodworm and blackworm should be offered along with frozen prawns. Algae and plants are avoided, but cucumber and courgette appear on the accepted menu. Accepted food morsel size changes with age in all of these fish. Best results are obtained by offer these foods in a paste. The very long intestine of these fishes indicates a biology adapted to breaking down food high in vegetable content.

very interesting. by frozen prawns i take it it means you have to boil them to soften them up before putting them in the tank?

 

[xingumike]

very interesting. by frozen prawns i take it it means you have to boil them to soften them up before putting them in the tank?

No, thaw frozen cooked ones in tank water then attach them to something like a rock and place in tank.

Don't leave in there for more than 4 hours imo

Edit - read my earlier post

 

[snazy]

snazy, on 28 December 2011 - 12:06 PM, said:

As a start, they are wood eating species, so drift wood is a must.

Completely wrong, ignore this, unless I have missed a massive rethinking of Baryancistrus diet? I haven't by the way.

Not entirely. Please read below:

The Gold Nugget Pleco is a very attractive and long lived (25 years) species of plecostomus that has become quite popular within the aquarium trade. Once the domain of exotic fish collectors, the Gold Nugget Pleco has become much more attainable for the average aquarium hobbyist. However, they are still somewhat rare and do command a higher price than your average or more common pleco species. Gold Nuggets have also developed a reputation for not being as hardy as many of the more common pleco species, thus it is important to choose a healthy specimen and provide excellent aquarium conditions. The bright coloration and color pattern of the spots and yellow stripes on the fins makes the Gold Nugget Pleco a must have for many tropical community aquarium hobbyists. It is recommended that hobbyists keep this species in a well established aquarium with plenty of driftwood and live plants.

Gold Nugget Plecos are a bottom dwelling species that will appreciate an aquarium environment that offers plenty of shaded areas within the aquarium. They do best in aquariums with live plants, plenty of submerged wood and rocky caves, crevices or piles. They should be kept in well established aquariums that have a mature biological filter systems and moderate water flow. The Gold Nugget Pleco will consume algae, but is not nearly as effective at this role as many other plecostomus species, as they are more likely to consume meaty foods that they can scavenge first and feed on algae and plant matter as a secondary food source. While most all pleco species prefer some wood within the aquarium, the Gold Nugget does much better in captivity when plenty of wood and live plants are present within the aquarium. This species is well suited for tropical Amazon aquariums, tropical community aquariums and aquariums with semi-aggressive South American cichlid species.

Gold Nugget Plecos will readily consume algae from wood, rocks, plants, aquarium substrate and walls along with decaying plant and meaty matter found on the substrate. This species is also more likely than many pleco species to enjoy more meaty foods in their diet, especially worms, brine shrimp or similar meaty fare. Ideally the Gold Nugget Pleco should be offered a wide range of both meaty and vegetable based foods consisting of high quality flake, frozen or freeze-dried foods along with sinking pellets and wafers. The aquarist should spend some time to identity the food items that the Gold Nugget Pleco is most interested in and be sure to provide plenty the desired foods to help keep this species strong, healthy and free from disease.

 

[xingumike]

I repeat - Baryancistrus are NOT a wood eating species, nothing in your cut and pastes suggest otherwise.

Yes, somewhere for biofilm aka aufwuchs to grow is essential, wood is great for this.

To state they are a wood eating species is way off the mark, other than select Lasiancistrus that pretty much exclusively applies to Panaque which have very different dietary requirements to Barys.

 

[snazy]

I repeat - Baryancistrus are NOT a wood eating species

I heard you the first time Not eating wood itself as a main diet. You are absolutely right in this sense. But they are one of the species that need a lot of driftwood to do well and survive.

 

[xingumike]

I repeat - Baryancistrus are NOT a wood eating species

I heard you the first time Not eating wood itself as a main diet. You are absolutely right in this sense. But they are one of the species that need a lot of driftwood to do well and survive.

*sigh*

OP, follow these steps for the process I mentioned above


Grind your favourite fish food to bits. You can add any kind of fish food and even ground, dried vegetables.
Separate an egg white from the yolk.
Mix the egg white and fish food.
Paint the resulting mixture on a flat rock or driftwood.
Let it dry rock hard.
Place in tank

 

[jamesmacc]

I repeat - Baryancistrus are NOT a wood eating species

I heard you the first time Not eating wood itself as a main diet. You are absolutely right in this sense. But they are one of the species that need a lot of driftwood to do well and survive.

*sigh*

OP, follow these steps for the process I mentioned above


Grind your favourite fish food to bits. You can add any kind of fish food and even ground, dried vegetables.
Separate an egg white from the yolk.
Mix the egg white and fish food.
Paint the resulting mixture on a flat rock or driftwood.
Let it dry rock hard.
Place in tank

cheers will give it a try, is that what you have done with yours?

 

[xingumike]

I gave my nugget to a mate when I left the UK, only keep Ancistrus and Panaque now.

Personally I never tried that method but the fish I bought had acclimatised in the shop for a month before I took it to make sure it was ok.

The first few weeks are crucial to keeping Barys alive, I know many people that have used that method with success for both fry and harder species.