# Worried about pleco not getting enough food



## bshubinsky

Hey all. I just started my tank and I'm worried that my pleco isnt getting enough food. It's a fairly new tank so I don't think I have a lot of algae for it to be munching on.

I'm dropping in algae wafers but some of the other fish nibble on it too. The wafer is gone in the morning but I'm not sure if the pleco is eating any of it. I tried putting in cucumber but the pleco isn't even touching it.

Any suggestions?


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## platies pwn

what kind of pleco?some plecos dont eat cucumber


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## chronoboy

i have the same question my tanks been only up for 2 months and im not sure if hes getting any food, and i just have a common cheap petstore pleco.


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## AvocadoPuffDude

Try breaking the tablet into several pieces.
Hey, plecos are pretty savvy critters...trust me, they know when you put one of the sinking algae tablets in the water, and will seek it out. And a healthy one will not be easily shoved off it by other fish, unless you have really aggressive fish like African cichlids or something like that. My bristlenose, about 3 inches long, shoves 10 other fish (guppies, platies, clown loaches, cory catfish) out of the way when he wants his share.
I also feed them at night, when the other fish might not notice by sight, but the pleco will definitely find it by smell.
I have never had a pleco respond to lettuce cucumber or zucchini the way they do with the algae wafers. In my large tank, I generally feed several tablets every other night or so, all broken up, and throw them in different areas of the tank to prevent too much crowding around one wafer. Note, I have many many fish that will find them at night and feed.


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## SGT Z

My pleco mostly eats at night. Plecos also eat algae that isn't visible to our eyes. Trust me, it's there. As for other foods, I guess I'm lucky that mine eats a variety of vegetables. All the ones I've successfuly been able to get him to eat were all hard fleshy vegetables like broccoli, cucumber, zuccini, squash, and pumpkin. He will eat the softer inside middle part first, then the tougher outside. He won't eat any of the skins so I have to peel them first.


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