Plecos & Cucumber -- How Long Can You Leave It in the Tank?
 

Hi --

I'm pretty new to keeping plecos. We have some bristlenose plecos and they have thoroughly cleaned their tanks of algae. I put some cucumber in their tanks yesterday (held "down" with forks). I can't tell if they've eaten any of the cucumber yet.

How long is it okay to leave the same piece of cucumber in the tank? I don't want them to go hungry now that the tanks are pretty much spotless, but don't want cucumber to go bad in the tanks, either.

Thanks a lot,
Jill

I always feed mine around 5'ish PM; then leave it in over night and take it out sometime next morning ~9'ish.
You may have to offer cucumber to the pleco 3-4 times before he'll realize the food and eat it actually. Mine was that way but once he figured out how tasty it was, the cucumber slices were goneee next day lol

Thanks! That answers another question -- I wasn't sure if the plecos even noticed let alone ate any of the cucumber. It looks all there today, as if none was eaten. I wasn't sure though if I should be able to tell they were at it or not.

Like I said I'd try it a few times over & over...don't ask me why (I hadn't spoke to a pleco about it YET lol) but they're picky when offered new foods period, so one gotta offer it a few times over till they like it.

You might also want to try spinach in a seaweed clip on the side of the tank, very near the bottom. My pleco loves spinach, and doesn't care for cucumber.

I used forks to hold cucumber for ages but then had the idea of holding it down with the weighted metal tape that you quite often get with new plants, it works a treat and looks nicer than the forks.
Doesn't really make any difference, just a thought :-D

Kenster