What does plecostemus eat?

Question

I have a sucker fish as I call him and true to his name all he does is suck on the glass and random objects in my tank. I thought they were bottom feeders. Will he ever eat the old fish food on the bottom of the gravel? Does he even eat fish food? If there's no algae in my tank for him, is that a problem? i guess im just confused as to what his job is and what he eats.

Answer 1

They eat algae and other detritus at the bottom of the aquarium. They should be supplemented with commercial algae wafers if there is not much algae in the tank. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

There is always algae in your tank.  That's yo'll probably see him spend a lot of time down on the bottom sucking individual pieces of gravel into his mouth and cleaning them.  They ALWAYS seem to live.

Answer 3

i think seeweed.

Answer 4

they tend to suck on the wall or gravel or anything in the tank and eat the algea off the sides, a hearty fish or live plants in the tank with them and alot of light will help them grow, mine are about 4 inches long at this point and i got them about 8 months ago

~arideXVII~

Answer 5

Pleco's eat algea, fish food, cucumbers, zuccini, oranges, algea waffer's or shrimp pellet's. Pleco's aren't picky and if you don't have algea in your tank you will need to add food for him

Answer 6

Plecos are vegetarians, they eat alge and plants.  they are most active at night.  thay will eat algae from the glass, gravel, and rocks.  thay still need algae wafer dropped in before lights out.  I have seen them eat feeder goldfish, guppies if they are not getting enought to eat. they will eat some food from the bottom like algae wafers, shrimp pellets.

they will not eat fish p**p.

as a treat you can quarter a cucumber longways and anchor it to the bottom so it doesn't float it will be gone in the morning.

if there is no algae on the glass then its doing its job.

Answer 7

He eats algae and you can buy pleco tablets (which are made of algae) for him if there isn't any in the tank. As for his job, that depends on his strengths, weaknesses and carreer objectives.

Here are the tablets:

http://www.petco.com/product/3984/Hikari...