Clown Pleco

[Mr Fish]

Recently I got a 10 gallon tank at work. 3 dwarf frogs, some shrimp and a clown pleco.

At my lfs there wasn't any driftwood in the tank w/ the pleco but I'm going to get a 8-10" peice (ordered today) and I will put it in after I boil it for several hours. Hopefully in the next week...

Until then - my tank doesn't have much algae as it is only been up for a few weeks.

What do I feed this guy? I tried algea flakes. The frogs ate it before the pleco would. I tried spinach. He wouldn't touch it. I tried a cut cucumber. He wouldn't eat it, either.

What will these guys eat?

Also, how do you get vegies to sink? I've been placing them under a small rock but what is a better way?

[shev]

Try green beans and peas. also clowns appreciate some meatyness in their diet, spirulina or brineshrimp pellets, or frozen foods.

[Mr Fish]

Originally Posted by shev

Try green beans and peas. also clowns appreciate some meatyness in their diet, spirulina or brineshrimp pellets, or frozen foods.

I have betta pellets, tadpole pellets, bloodworms (which don't sink) and tubifex. I'll try the peas tomorrow, drop 1-2 peeled ones around him. Hope he likes it. The problem with the "meaty" stuff is the frogs generally get to it before he comes out to eat.

[osteoporoosi]

3 frogs and a pleco is probably a bit too much bioload for a 10gallon, so do lots of wc's to enhance his appetite.

[garfieldnfish]

I have a 15 gal with five dwarf frogs and 2 clown plecos (both about 2") and 3 applesnails. I have to do a 90% water change once a week to remove most of the poop, but my apple snails and frogs have both provided me with offspring, so this setup should be ok. I have lots of driftwood, small gravel and some plants (crypts, lucky bamboo, vals and a dwarf lily) along with a few small terra cotta pots. The clown plecos and the frogs like the same environment, low light, little current and pondlike athmosphere, which is why I believe they make and excellent combo. But the poop factor is enourmous and you have to do your water changes religiously and make them large ones. My setup has been this way for almost 2 years for the frogs and snails, but the clowns were added only about 7 months ago, but they are thrieving. They need the driftwood for digestion so you need to get it fast. If you buy it in a petstore, boiling may not be necessary. I just rinsed mine off and tossed it in the tank. It sank immediately and has been leaking tannin ever since, which gives it the nice colored water look, that the frogs and clowns like.
Clown plecos love the wood most of all. Mine also steal an occasional bloodworm from the frogs and they eat sinking pellets (tetra min the rich mix and algae wafers, shrimp pellets, but the frogs sample that as well.) Try a slice of zucchini or sweet potato. Remove the seeds of the zucchini and place the slice in a bit of water and microwave for about 10 sec. This will soften it up and the clown will eat it if you attach it with a veggie clip or use a plant weight to keep it from floating.
I think a 10 gal with 3 ADFs and a clown will work fine.
BTW I used to have a Burmese Mountain shrimp in this tank as well, but I found him yards away from the tank a few weeks back and I have no clue how he got out of the tank unless it happened during the water change and I did not notice his escape. That worked well with the plecos and the frogs. I also used to have ghost shrimp in this tank before the clowns were added but those routinely disappeared and I hardly ever found a body, so if yours are ghosts don't be surprised if the frogs take them out one by one.

[Doodles]

My plecos LOVE corn as well. I just slice it off the cob and freeze it. They also love cucumbers, lettuce, I've tried raw potato once and they liked that but Im not sure if it's alright for them to eat that. The also like algae wafers, sinking shrimp pellets. I used to have an Oscar so I had "Oscar grow" by HBH and my pleco's and every single fish I have go bananas over this. It also sinks so the pleco's can eat it as well.

[shev]

I have also kept an ADF with a clown pleco. every time the frog happened to find his way into the clown plecos cave of driftwood he would be promptly scooched out by the clown pleco (clown plecos are very territorial to their piece of driftwood)

garfieldnfish is right, the right driftwood is very important for clown plecos. clown plecos originate in south american rivers wherethey live in the rooted systems of trees. driftwood makes up a lot of their diet, they scrape away wood fiber. they are cafofllauged to blend in with the wood, and so they feel safer with some. you wont need a very big piece of the right kind of driftwood. Try to go for african hardwood, bogwood, mopani, malaysian. I've read on here people have had clown plecos with american randomly found driftwood pieces off ebay and they dont like them so much. I have a small piece of african driftwood in my tank, and he literally never goes further than 3 inches away from it.


I dont even shuck the peas, skin and all still eats them.

[garfieldnfish]

I forgot they also love to eat ripe (actually almost over ripe) mangos. In their natural habitat they often fall in the water when they ripen and they eat those, I have tried it and they ate it but had to fight the snails off as they also love mangos.