i recently just got a common pleco need help

[mark134]

i was in petco the other day and they had a common pleco in a floating bag and it was about 5-6 inches long it was pretty big and i know they dont sell ones that big so i asked the guy is that for sale and he said its up for adoption someone just brought it in so i said ill take it ive had it for about 2 weeks or more now and its doing great i have it in a 55 gallon tank it was full of algae on the glass and now it has cleaned all the glass it hides in this cave all day and i feed my discus fish in this tank sinking 1mm pellets and it comes out and it will eat those i also drop a algae wafer in there at night so its eating good but i was wondering is this healthy for it should i start feeding it vegatables too like cucumber or should i just keep letting it eat pellets and wafers thanks for the help also i do have drift wood in there for it

 

[Tony_s]

Hey Mark,how's the bristlenose????

Your 55 gallon tank will be too small for that common after awhile,they need Big tanks,like around 100 gallons.That's probably why the other person brought in for adoption.

 

[mark134]

the reason i left the forums is because the bn died i dont know why it happend but it did i think it was because i was using ph buffers
the guy before me was keeping it in a 10 gallon tank i guess i can keep it for a while until its too big

 

[Doodles]

:hi:

It would be better for him especially long term if you can get him to eat some veggies. Have a look at the veggie list, particularly the starter list

http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49


Common plecs aren't usually fussy once you get them on veg, if he has never had any veggies he may ignore them the first few tries.

 

[mark134]

ok ill try it out

 

[Doodles]

A 55 gallon isn't too bad, he should be ok for quite a while, depends on how much of a growth spurt he has.

 

[mark134]

it was a long time ago when my bn died i dont know how it happend i was upset i had blurry water i i had this stuff it was some stuff that keeps the ph at 7 and it takes out annomia and stuff so i put that in and i kept doind water changes i think thats what killed it but after that i bought a uv sterrilizer and my water has been clear and stuff but now i have 2 55 gallon tank one is a community and the other is a malawi cichild tank im thinking about buying an albino pleco for my other tank

heres a pic of it

 

[Brengun]

OOh I love your discus. The main reason we feed vegs is as a roughage to bulk out those insides and keep everything moving well in there. It takes an awful long time to eat enough wood alone to supply enough fibre in the diet.

 

[mark134]

thank you
yea eating wood that doesnt seem very good i dont know how they do that
how many algae wafers i should i put in in one night it seems like he eats one within an hour or 2

 

[Doodles]

He could probably do with a couple of wafers. If you can get him on the veg then you can alternate veg and wafer days.

 

[Irene0100]

hi Mark, welcome.
you will find the plec creates quite a lot of poo so keep up the gravel cleaning and filter cleaning and he should be fine.

 

[Tony_s]

Mark,if you do decide to get another bn may i make a suggestion.See if your store carries small ones,i bought mine at 1 inch and found it fun and satisfying to watch him grow.

:woohoo:

 

[mark134]

i went to the pet store they had a bunch of differnt kind of plecos but most were very expensive they had small bns but i wanted and albino one so i got this
should i only feed it at night ?

 

[Tony_s]

should i only feed it at night ?

Yes,i like to feed mine 1 hour after the lights are off.

 

[Doodles]

chuck a mushroom in to float one night. He might not get where it's at straight away but will after a couple of goes. My common is eating his mushroom within around 10-15 seconds of dropping it in now:clap::clap:

 

[mark134]

i put in zucini last night and in the morning there was a hole in it like something was eating it i guess it was the pleco i think hes shy or somthing now because its about 7:00 pm and he was swimming all around the tank like he was hungry or somthing and then when i got up to drop in some food he went back to his hiding place but later at like 8 or 9 pm when i turn the lights off he gets really active swimming around the whole tank i think he eat algae wafers but i cant really tell i just see it under his mouth but i never see him actually eating it

ill try some mushrooms but idk if he will catch on to them

 

[mark134]

the smaller one i break one wafer in half but for the big one hes an adult im guessing hes about 10 inches long how many wafers a night should i give him i put in 2 should that be enough and ive been putting zucini and cucumber in but im pretty sure my ciclids are eating that

 

[Doodles]

Two wafers should be enough for him, if the cichlids are eating the wafers then maybe try putting them somewhere where they can't reach, difficult as the plec is quite big anyway.

 

[mark134]

the cichlids try to nip at the wafers but the plec will come in and steal them from them

 

[Irene0100]

hi, hows he doing?
just wondered what your water is like cos I always thought M cichlids like hardish alkalins water (over 7 ph) wheras plecs prefer soft acidic water.