[Fishy Bob]

Ok, so i was cleaning my tank and saw i had a little baby pleco on a piece of slate, looked into my pleco cave and saw many more, at least 30. I was not trying to breed them but was not surprised that they did. I was wondering though if i can leave them be. They are currently in a 26 gallon flat back hex, there is the dad, a LF BN albino and the mom, which is a SF BN albino, 2 skunk cories and 2 panda cories. It has small sized gravel for the bottom, 2 really small terra cotta pots, 1 piece of mopani wood(fairly big but not huge), a small amazon sword, and some slate.
I know people breed them in bare bottom tanks, but again i was not intentionally trying to breed them so i didnt know if they would be fine as long as i did a daily or bi-daily water change? Id like to keep them there, as it would be much easier and there are no predators with them, but i was not 100% sure and didnt see anything after spending 3 hours looking.
I did put a piece of sponge over my HOB filter intake so they wouldn't be sucked in there and i did drop some algae wafers, but what else should i feed them? It is an established tank with no algae problem (never has been in this tank), so i want to be sure they are fed 100%. Any info on this from anybody would be greatly appreciated!! Even if you just post a site that i couldn't find, it would be great. THANKS!!

 

[Sylverclaws]

The father tends to take care of the babies, and if there aren't any predators(which the other adult fish may be considered as), it should be alright.

Yes, normal foods are ok, they can attach and nom, baby brine shrimp and daphnia would be a plus to go with blanched cucumber and good quality algae wafers too.

And yes, clean water makes happy baby fish. A little bit daily, like sucking out extra food or poo is good(about 5% or so) with your regular weekly changes.

 

[yippee]

Sylverclaws pretty much covered it all. The father should keep the babies in the cave until they are old enough to venture out and take care of themselves. Once they get that size, they should be able to eat anything you would feed the adult. Personally i use blanched (boil 2 minutes) zucchini slices. Cucumber is good but consists mostly of water so there isnt as much nutrition. I use this for all of my plecos, babies and all. It's always worked good for me.

 

[Fishy Bob]

Ok, thanks for the info! I put in blanched zuchinni but they arent on it yet, but most are still in the cave. The parents ate it, and ive seen a few babies on the glass, but none of that yet. Im sure they will though

 

[Sylverclaws]

Try some steamed/boiled broccoli stems(take off the tops before cooking or it'll make a mess in your tank!). Make sure they're nice and soft, I boil mine. You can take off the top of the skin too if you want, expose the soft insides. =)

I do not know how often it's good to give those though. I know several people who raised their plecos on the stuff but haven't read anything on it, I just give it as a treat a couple times per week. =) It's the -only- food my pleco will actually come out for, the rest he ignores until nightfall. My fish like the stuff too, so do my snails and shrimp. ;D