personally for me that doesn't suffice as an answer when im trying to find out what my newly aquired fish eat.
Only for the support of a productive debate, I will point out that my comments here are really only applicable to plecos and not to all fish....and I do not believe and/or never intended to imply that my thoughts apply to any fish since I COMPLETELY agree that it is best to research the fish which we plan to keep, including their dietary needs BEFORE we bring them home. Please don't take my comments out of context too much.
when faced with an unknown (of which I am not including bn's or commons as you are) or undescribed fish
I also feel that it is good for us to know that not everyone in the world, in fact, I would say a relative few people in the world can ID any and every pleco he/she happens to see (granted, some are more obvious than others) and would also add that, if you were to stare into a tank full of juvenile plecos, even an expert such as you may be implying that you are would have a tough time picking out the BN plecos from common plecos - which, seeing as how we frequently purchase young fish, could become problematic when trying to determine the dietary needs of the exact individual we just bought.
Your primary paragraph is full of "many" "a very vast majority" "while most"...personally for me that doesn't suffice as an answer when im trying to find out what my newly aquired fish eat.
Again, I didn't mean to imply that my comments apply to any fish, only plecos, however, let me be more specific for you then... The most commonly found/purchased plecos in my area are the 'common' pleco, BN plecos, sailfin plecos, and their albino equivalents -- all of which are primarily herbivorious fish as juveniles, only to become more closely defined as herbavores as adults. Hence:
for others this advice may well result in an early death for their plec
Your advice - to state that X-species of pleco should always and only be fed veggie matter throughout its entire life - is certainly the more 'dangerous' advice. From what I am understanding, which I admit could be wrong, you are simply not giving enough creedance to the fact/idea (whichever you believe) that a fishes' dietary needs can change throughout its life....which is all I am trying to point out here as it pertains to plecos. Lastly...
Knowing specifics imo makes you more qualified to make generalisations about a species, having a general idea doesn't award the same level of knowledge to then make specific comments about a certain fish...you can still only make generalisations
...not only do I feel that this is nothing more than a round-a-bout way of stating common sense, I feel that it is less applicable to fishkeeping because of the plethora of variances in each of our situations and is highly evident in the oft promoted idea (by experts which make both you and I look like complete novices) that our fish need a 'varied diet' in order to remain successfully healthy - which of course, is a generalization since the term 'varied' can mean a wide array of foodstuffs.
Let me sum this all up for you, and anyone reading this:
It is my strong opinion, based upon what I have experienced and/or learned thus far in my 'hobby lifespan' that with only a few exceptions, it is best to provide a mixed diet for our plecos, to include both meaty and veggie-based foods. Which can also be found within the advice of some known 'experts' (depending on your personal definition of the term 'expert' I suppose), such as those who wrote this document:
http
/www.catfishstudygroup.org/pdf/family_loricariidae.pdf ...which, if I may add, places a rather generalized diet on 'most' members of the Loricariidae Family, which is in contradiction to your strong opinion (which, I only slightly disagree with). In the end, I feel that my comments here have been focused mostly on a basic descritption that I hope most beginners might be able to understand and of course, I would be more than willing to delve deeper into the subject with anyone, both to express my ideas/info/thoughts, as well as to learn more myself, but let's be honest, not everyone is looking read/hear that, in which case, when available, generalizations can be fine IMHO.
