Pleco Dietary Needs... Supplementary Food(s)

[ChileRelleno]

I'm seeing a really alarming oversight amongst alot of fishkeepers with Plecos.
The trend is to just throw a few algae wafers in after lights out and think that that is enough supplementary food for'em.
Its not!
Plecs may start off just fine eating algae in the tank and/or algae wafers as juveniles, but as they mature their needs change.
Most Plecs are very opportunistic omnivores*, in other words they'll eat just about anything they can get a hold of but primarily subsist on vegetables/fruits.
A plecs digestive system is designed for a diet high in bulk fiber and low in protein, they need large amounts of vegetable/fruit matter and occasional protein. Their digestive system is designed to handle alot of bulk material to attain a their nutritional needs, they need more than just a few low bulk/high protien algae wafers and whatever food they find leftover or a little algae growing in the tank.
None but the largest tanks could support enough algae to feed even a medium sized Plec, and while enough algae would have bulk it is very low in nutrition.

A Plec without fiber bulk (vegetable/fruit) in his diet, is a Pleco that feels like he's starving most of the time, even if he's getting enough nutrition to survive and grow.

It'd be like be like you getting only a slice of bread per day that has enough calories, protien, fats, sugars and asst'd vitamins for you to survive and grow...
But you'd be horrendously hungry the rest of the time.

Excellent daily vegetable supplements are, romaine, spinach and other leafy green lettuces (Iceberg is very high in bulk but very low nutritionally.) that have been blanched* first, cut/sliced zucchinni, cucumber, sweet potato, broccoli stems, peas and beans (blanched and skinned), and others. Fleshy fruits of various types can be fed too, Plecs in the wild feed on fruit fallen into river from overhanging trees. Papaya, breadfruit, cantalope/honeydew melon are a few examples, experiment and find what your fish likes.
It takes most Plecs a few feedings to discover and realize these are food, but after that there is no keeping them away. Some fish will even guard these foods to keep other fish away.

I found it very hard when housed with other fish to get such delights as worms and small scraps of cut fish/shrimp, shrimp pellets and other sinking food tablets/pellets down to the plecs.
Other fish can be sooo greedy .
My solution was to load their zucchinni or cucumber with shrimp pellets, carnivore sticks and so on, like cloves on a ham.
Just attach it to clips or rubberband to a rock or wood, makes it easy for your Pleco to find it and eat it.

*As stated above "Most Plecs are very opportunistic Omnivores", but some are primarily carnivore (e.g. Zebras etc) and others (e.g. Panaque ect) require bogwood (Yes, wood!) in their diet to survive.
*Blanching; too quickly prepare a food by placing it in or pouring boiling water over it. Leafy greens 5-30 seconds, or longer for other vegetables, the idea is to wilt or soften the food so its easier to eat.

There are hundreds of different Plecos, please research your specific Plec and its needs thoroughly.
I implore all of you with plecos who do not currently regularly supplement their diet with veggies and/or other appropriate food sources to do so, please!
I guarantee you will notice a increase in growth and improved physical appearance

[BadBud]

There is not a preacher and choir smilie, so.....

[nursie]

Great post, Chili!
I've seen folks quite surprised that plecs need more than algae, I sure hope they read this.

[Naps]

Great post!! Thanks!!

[WyldFya]

Another thing to note, as "common plecos" get larger they need a higher percentage of protein each day. If you do not supplement this need, they can and will become predatory. (If anyone wants to know more about how they hunt let me know, I've had a few that have gone to this, and I'm not talking about simple slime sucking either, full blown hunting).