pleco doesnt suck !

[bsmith]

so i have 3 pictus cats, 1 pleco an angelfish and some other tester fish that ive left in there. i give them a brine shrimp square every night and i was wondering if thats too much to make him not suck the algea off the glass? and it doesnt look like there is much algea but should he go anyway to get a little bit off ?
thanks

[shev]

new tanks kill plecos if you dont feed them anything else. I suggest using algae wafers, veggie rounds and green beans until there is a build up of algae. if theres just a little it may be green spot algae, which has to be manually removed since plecos cant or wont get it off the glass.

[bsmith]

ive had the tank about 6months, i feed the brine shrimp and he eats that and sometimes the algea waffers, but he doesnt eat the waffers. i just dont know if the shrimp are too much for him to not eat on the glass, sometimes he eats on the rocks. but thats it

[Damon]

What type of pleco is it? They aren't all vegetarians.

[bsmith]

im not sure, il;l try to gt a pic, i got it at wal-mart if that helps at all. its black/brown withdark spots !

[sumpthinfishy]

probably a common pleco.

[fishfreaks]

yup, its most likely a common. you may want to try the veggie wafers, or any other kind of sinking pellet. you can also feed cucumber (he should go nuts for this)

[bsmith]

ive tried the waffers and pellets, they dont work, the brine shrimo work like magic, but i want him to eat on my glass, can it be that i have no algea on there? and if not then how do i get some on there !

[sumpthinfishy]

Can you see any algae? And if so, what type? Green spot algae is too hard for plecos and most algae eaters. It has to be scraped off by hand.

[bsmith]

i see no algea, but at pet stores i see no algea and their plecos stick to the walls all day, so idk

[sumpthinfishy]

Not to sound mean, but they're probably sticking to the side of the tank out of sheer desperation that they may find a morsel of algae. Many of them are half starved when they get home.

If you have no algae, and you'd see it if you did, they have to have an alternative food source. As they settle into the tank and aren't starved and too busy trying to eat, they'll hang out on the side of the tank.

I just got 6 albino bristle nose pl*cos in and all they did was eat for a day or so. I rarely saw them. Just a few minutes ago, I saw three of them hanging out on the side together. Little pot bellies shining.

If you want algae, and I did this on my small tank where I hatch out baby snails, put it in front of a window where it'll get more light. Or you can increase the time that your light stays on.

Oh, and have you ever watched him at night to see if he's doing more of the pl*co behavior you'd expect? He could just be doing it after lights out.

[bsmith]

hey thanks man, ill keep a watch on them, im getting a new 40 gallon tank, you think i need another pleco or is one enough? also what are some cool kinds of pleco's out there ? i like the albino's and bristle nose, i really like the zebras, anthing else stand out?

[sumpthinfishy]

Well, most people see pl*cos as utilitarian. So, what you NEED would vary from tank to tank. But, if you just like them and want some, the only thing to really watch out for is getting a common pl*co that can quickly outgrow your tank. Have you ever seen one of these fully grown? Tremendously huge! Head like a softball at least. Amazing.

For a 40 gallon, definitely a smaller dwarf type variety. Bristle nose are all around good for algae, very peaceful, even with fry and in general good for the tank. But all pl*cos are big on the bioload department, so I wouldn't put him and a goldfish in a 40 gallon, for instance, and then think there's plenty of room for more fish.

I like my little abino bristle nose. Really cute. Good color. There were some red marbled ones recently on AB that I'd love to get, but can't at the moment. Rubber lip (nose) are interesting, but seem more shy to me. I hardly ever see mine.

You'd probably do better to just google pl*cos and see which you like and more importantly what would fit your tank.