Plecos

[markandhisfish]

hopefully somebody can help me out here with pleccos...... the trouble is i just cant keep them alive. i have had a common plecco and a yellow spotted plecco both onlly lasted about 2 months then died is there something basic i am doing wrong? all i can think is did they get enough food? gave cucumber roughly every 10 days to 2 weeks other than that left him to find algea etc. thouigh am going to do a planted setup soon i currently have the cruddy fake ones. all other fish in my tank thrive

water stats

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 25
ph 7.8

please any help/ suggestions appreciated as i want a nice pleco in my new planted tank when its up an cycled but dont want to kill another nice fish

 

[lym]

What size is your tank?

 

[Corleone]

Tank size could be the issue, important to know to give better advice, but even then, if you get them small, I think they'd last until they start outgrowing the tank or becoming stunted, and if its the same species I think, gold spotted plecos are much smaller and should be good in most tanks.

Try feeding them a bit more often than you are - I give mine an algae tablet every day (if he doesn't take it, the snails get to it, so I'm not as concerned about overfeeding), and lettuce every other day. Most of the time a tank won't produce enough algae to feed one, so they do depend on you for most of their diet. I leave the lettuce in overnight and it gets chewed up pretty good. The lettuce doubles as snail control - if you have unwanted snails, you can pull dozens of them out on the lettuce and throw them all away.

 

[WillyRBeek]

Tank size could be the issue, important to know to give better advice, but even then, if you get them small, I think they'd last until they start outgrowing the tank or becoming stunted, and if its the same species I think, gold spotted plecos are much smaller and should be good in most tanks.

Try feeding them a bit more often than you are - I give mine an algae tablet every day (if he doesn't take it, the snails get to it, so I'm not as concerned about overfeeding), and lettuce every other day. Most of the time a tank won't produce enough algae to feed one, so they do depend on you for most of their diet. I leave the lettuce in overnight and it gets chewed up pretty good. The lettuce doubles as snail control - if you have unwanted snails, you can pull dozens of them out on the lettuce and throw them all away.

How would you get the lettuce to sink though? I've tried feeding my BN plec cucumber in the past, but I can't get the damn thing to sink.

 

[ox5477]

For both, just need a weight. This can be as simple as a spoon. Stick the spoon through the food item and the weight of it will make the food sink

You can use plant weights or fishing line weights as well, but why buy something when everybody has at least a couple spoons sitting around?

Ox

 

[drufly]

What i do with the cucumber in my tank is slice a small line in the skin and stick a silver coin in the slice. Soon sinks after that.

As corleone said feed more often, i would put a piece of cucumber approx 1 inch thick and replace it as soon as the inside is all munched. Basically there is always a piece in the tank, as mentioned if the plecs dont get it the snails or shrimp do.

 

[Blade118]

gave cucumber roughly every 10 days to 2 weeks other than that left him to find algea etc.
water stats

Wait, Do you mean by this comment, All you feed them is some cucumber every 10 days and some algea. If so, Then thats far too little. pleco will find there own food, Plants (some plecos perhaps) in the gravel/sand algea and snails, HOWEVER, you should be giving a more balanced meal to them, Maybe 1 or 2 algea waffles a day. Some veg perhaps abit more, Perhaps twice 10days maybe more. Maybe, you could try frozen foods, Such as bloodworm, as they really love that, containing high protein levels!

I suggest, Make sure your feeding them well enough, When you say also, your other fish are doing well, Then perhaps there eating all the plecos foods therefore staving them?

Blade

 

[2excitedkids]

For both, just need a weight. This can be as simple as a spoon. Stick the spoon through the food item and the weight of it will make the food sink

You can use plant weights or fishing line weights as well, but why buy something when everybody has at least a couple spoons sitting around?

Ox

I have a fab way of putting veg in. I was given an extendable fondue fork some time ago and then had a brain wave. I just stab the veg and put the fork in the tank . It can be extended to whatever height the tank is !

..my hands don't even get wet and the veg stays down. When been in long enough just pull the fork out.

 

[markandhisfish]

tank is 36x12x18 ( inches) would put piccy of him on here so you can see the species but dont know how ( it is saved on my pc how do i do it?

 

[Davo86]

tank is 36x12x18 ( inches) would put piccy of him on here so you can see the species but dont know how ( it is saved on my pc how do i do it?

to upload a pic form your pc, go to www.imageshack.us and upload the pic, then copy the direct link and post it here

I think its already beeen said but it does sound like your plecs are bing starved, try to feed other foods such as bloodworm, brineshrimp, courgette or deshelled peas,
Also do you have bogwood in the tank? plecs can get a lot of nutrition from rasping on this

 

[markandhisfish]

yes i have got a piece of bogwood in my tank guess it was my fault he cant of got enough food

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, cucumber doesn't give the best nutrition, if they were only getting that once every couple of weeks then i'm not surprised to be totally honest, try feeding courguette/zucchini, peas and potatoe and feed them this every other day alternated with algae wafers and catfish pellets.