Food Question about wood

[McTackett]

I have sail fin plecos, albino sailfins and gold spot plecos and bristlenose catfish, do any of these fish need food for their diet or just as breeding caves and hidey holes??

 

[McTackett]

Was also wondering after reading some of the foods that people feed specially some of the pallets such as the NLS tablets, where can you get these from? Im in Gladstone QLD and is hard to find food such as pallets and wafers for plecos here not much variety. Does anyone know a good online store to possible order some of the tablets from?

 

[Pirarucu]

eBay...I usually buy the Hikari Algae Wafers in the 1kg bag, or i get the New Life Spectrum (NLS) H2O Stable Wafers, I got a 2.24kg bucket of NLS for a christmas present, but it is all bought from eBay. :thumbup:

 

[McTackett]

Thanks for that ill have a look, do you know about the wood?

 

[Pirarucu]

Yes...sailfins need wood, they love to rasp wood to stay healthy and in the wild they will also consume decaying wood. They will also eat plants and dead carcasses of other fish if left in the aquarium, they love scavenging for any type of food and they are not picky eaters, but wood is essential. I have kept sailfins for many years, i have 2 very large sailfins and they eat everything i put in there tank, and they love there vegetables. :thumbup:

 

[McTackett]

Awesome thanks thats great.. I have asked around at pet shops and no one here can really tell you much about them. seem bit rare up this way unless your a private collector.

 

[McTackett]

hmm just read my first post and stuffed that up lol I meant to ask about the wood in the first place.. research on the internet gives so many answer so it is great to have people who know what is best for them

 

[Lornek8]

None of the plecs you listed require wood in their diets, none have teeth to process wood as Panaques do. They are may rasp the layer of growth that forms on the wood but that's really the extent. They can all survive perfectly welll in the aquarium without wood.

 

[Pirarucu]

Panaque and Pterygoplichthys Digest Wood.

By...D. P. German
Department of Zoology, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL, USA

D. P. German
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA

Very Interesting Read About Wood Eating Catfish.

PDF Format Link; http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/60/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00360-009-0381-1.pdf?auth66=1364677701_de54dd70ce3cc320aa64f3b3308652d5&ext=.pdf

 

[Jackson]

I haven't read that for a while now but I thought the finding was they eat wood but don't actually digest it.
Or maybe that was another paper. I've read a few and don't really remember which was which.

 

[Pirarucu]

After reading that impressive research on wood eating catfish it comes down to that Panaques and Pterygoplichthys don't need wood in the aquarium even thou they consume wood, they get no benefit from it, so all they do all day in the wild is break down wood into some type of organic matter maybe like some type of wood soil, so basically it's there job that mother nature gave them, just like a honey bee that collects honey, but the Panaque can do a faster job due to different teeth formation, so i personally would put wood in my aquarium due to the fact that they enjoy breaking it down, because it's there job.

 

[McTackett]

Thanks for the answers, helps heaps, I was trying leaving the wood in treated water in the sun to get the algae growth then switching it for the one in the tank atm. the link that you put in though won't download for me.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

wood eating catfish it comes down to that Panaques and Pterygoplichthys don't need wood in the aquarium even thou they consume wood, they get no benefit from it...

They probably do need wood, even though they don't get their carbohydrates directly from it (but rather from the fungal hyphae degrading the wood). Not having wood to gnaw on will definitely stress them, and the wood itself may be important for the function of their digestive systems. What probably aren't very useful are the wood chip containing wafers.

cheers Darrel

 

[McTackett]

Ta thanks for that last big. I'll leave the wood in the tank instead of switching them.. I did get some mopani wood I think it is called, is that spose to be the soft wood??

 

[Lornek8]

Mopani is super hard, to the extent that there have been reports of Panaque wearing out teeth when housed only with mopani.

 

[Jackson]

They lose and grow back new teeth. I mostly have mopani in my tanks and all my panaque and hypostmous have a full mouth of teeth.

I find teeth all the time on the bottom of the tank.
I'll try to remember to get pics next time.

 

[McTackett]

cool that would be great to see the photos. and thanks for that information. I have one piece of mopani that I was growing algae on in treated water then was going to use as a cave for the BN, pretty much perfect size and shape for them. what sort of wood do you find that plecos really enjoy munching on?? I live right next to a flowing fresh water creek, is it ok to find a bit of drift wood out of the creek, rinse it off, sit it in treated water for a week or so and give it to the plecos.

they are fattening up nicely since I have changed there diet after reading some of the posts on here. thanks heaps they are looking even better now

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

is it ok to find a bit of drift wood out of the creek, rinse it off, sit it in treated water for a week or so and give it to the plecos.

It will depend on the wood, but yes in principle. Alder, Willow, Aspen, Birch, Cherry, Beech, Maple, Apple would be fine, Pine or spruce, Rhododendron etc are not suitable.

cheers Darrel

 

[McTackett]

hey thanks for that is good to know thanks Darrel

 

[Pirarucu]

Just remember if you are going to use wood from creeks or bushland it is recommended you boil it for a few days just so you don't introduce any kind of disease or parasites into your aquarium and it also removes tannins from the wood to help prevent discoloration of the water... I sold wood to LFS in my area for extra cash to fund my fish hobby, this was my setup... http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13618