What to feed my Pleco?

Question

I have a four inch plecostomus that I feed algae wafers. All of my other fish seem to like these, but all of my other fish are carnivorous and are fed flakes. I am concerned that I may overfeed my other fish and underfeed my pleco. What is a food that mollies and guppies will not eat and that my pleco will love? Also, how do I feed him this food and how often?

Answer 1

Mollies and guppies are omnivores meaning that they'll eat both plant and animal matter, so there isn't much you can add for the pleco that they won't eat. But the pleco is nocturnal (mollies and guppies are more active during the day), so add the food meant for him just before or after the lights go out for the night and he'll get his share.

Also, add some driftwood for the pleco so he has a place to hide when the lights are on (if it's a piece he can get under, that's even better!) - they also like to scrape the surface of the wood for fiber and keep it clean of algae.

Answer 2

As long as all the food is eaten within 3 minutes of putting it in ,you won't overfeed. You could start feeding them the regular food first,then drop the algae wafers in,and take a stick and push them into the gravel. Feed the wafers after you switch off the light for the night,after the fish start to sleep. Catfish hunt in the dark,while the other fish will be less active.

Answer 3

I feed my pleco lettuce and pieces of zucchini, in addition to algae wafers.

Anchor both the lettuce and zucchini so they sink to the bottom. My pleco goes crazy over both. Algae disks and vegatables actually help mollies and guppies and many other fish with bloat and other things. If you are concerned your pleco is not getting enough of the food... Feed him late at night when everything is dark. That is when they do most of their feeding.

Answer 4

you could try adding sinking algae pellets a little after the lights are turned off. i usually cut in half then drop the halves in two different places. your mollies will be less active and the pleco will be and have something to get at with little competition.