Veggie foods for pleco's.

[plecoman]

Veggie List

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This is a list of a lot of Vegetables and some fruit that can be fed to your plecs. Also included are some suggestions for weighing the veg down in the tank.

IMPORTANT

1. Make sure you have an ID of your plec to ensure the correct dietary needs are met.
2. A varied diet of veg+fruit is needed so that nutritional needs are fulfilled.
3. Don't forget to include algae wafers, meat, and wood depending on species of plec.
4. If you put in anything that contains the skin or rind be sure to scrub it first to get rid of any pesticides.


STARTER LIST
this is a list of vegetables and fruit that are popular with most plecs.
(Thank you to everyone on PF who voted in the veggie poll and all the input)

Zucchini/Courgette
Cucumber
Peas (deshelled)
Sweet Potato
Green Beans
Melon/Melon rind


OTHER VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

Apple( doesn't seem to be too popular)
Asparagus
Aubergine/Egg plant
Avocado
Broad Beans
Broccoli/Stalk
Butternut Squash+ other squash
Capsicum/Bell pepper(not the hot ones)
Cauliflower/Stalk
Carrot
Coconut
Grapes
Kale/Collard Greens
Kiwi Fruit
Lettuce
Lima Beans
Mango
Mushroom (common plecs and goldspots love mushroom)let it float,they will reach it. Good exercise
Papaya
Potato
Pumpkin
Spinach
Sprouts
Swede
Tomato
Yam

Most veg can be given raw but if you find no-one is interested then try blanching.
Don't leave veggies and esp fruit in for too long otherwise you can end up with water quality problems. The easiest approach is to add them in the evening and remove in the morning.

SUGGESTIONS FOR WEIGHING DOWN VEG

Stainless Steel spoon(push the spoon through the veg)
Stainless Steel fork(there have been suggestions that plecs have hurt themselves on the prongs of forks, use at your own risk)
A rubber band/rock
Suction capped Veggie clip (fish shops usually sell these)
Screwcumber www.screwcumber.com/buy_screwcumber_online.html

I obtained this information from plecoplanet.com

[angel]

Nice list, Drew! A lot of good information

[jeremyh81]

This may be somewhat related: I've tried feeding cucumber slices to my ottocinclae, but there was so much algae that the ottos completely ignored the cucumber for the 24 hours I left it in.

Since the plecos I've gotten from you have been feeding mostly on live algae, do you think they'll accept vegetables or other "fresh" foods? I have seen one pleco, very briefly, graze on an algae tablet, but then moved on to the real thing.

What are the eating habits of your adults?

[plecoman]

I have no real algae in my tanks so they eat what I feed them. Spirulina flake, shrimp flake, pleco wafers, zucchini, english peas, and even the tropical flake food that I feed the other fish. Mine eat anything. They love the wood too. If you have a lot of the real thing(algae), they may like it so much that they ignore the other food. Again, mine eat whatever I throw in the tank.

[angel]

I can attest to that! We have an abundance of the real thing for them to eat and I put in the tablets and they let them sit. They do keep the tanks so much cleaner! I only have to wipe the glass every other week now in the ones they're in. Love it. Oh yeah--and they're all over that piece of driftwood you like too.

[jeremyh81]

Well, I tried French-cut green beans and they would alternate between the beans and the glass. But they did clean the beans down to the skins! ;D

[plecoman]

Glad to hear they liked the green beans! Try the frozen english peas. Boil for 3 minutes and let cool. After they cool, peal the outer skin off the peas. Drop them in the tank and they will sink to the bottom instantly. Watch them eat it up! ;D

[oldsaltydog]

Great list Drew, glad to see someone put together a list of different foods,all i ever used was zuchini,spinach,and spirnila wafers.Also just a note letting you know as far as we know,all the babies we got from you are doing fine.

[plecoman]

FYI. Be careful when feeding your pleco's frozen english peas. Mine have loved them, and still do, but Saturday night I believe I gave them too much. I have found five dead pleco's since that feeding and several others that have hugh swollen bellies! They actually look like they may have swallowed the peas whole, if that were possible, although I think it was just a case of over-eating! This happened in two separate tanks also, so this leads me to believe that it was the result of eating too much peas! I removed the dead and swollen one's and all the others are doing fine. I've never experienced this before, and that is the only thing different that I have done. "Little Gluttons"! Sounds like me at a seafood buffet! LOL.....