Suggestions on getting rubber lip to eat

[LuminousAphid]

Ok, so I probably should have just let my snails work on the tank algae instead of buying this guy, but I think that he looks really cool too

I got him about a week ago, and within 3 days he had pretty much cleaned the glass up. The last few days, he still seems hooked on the idea of cleaning the glass for food, even though there is nothing left on it. I first tried giving some Hikari mini algae wafers after dark, but I think my tetras ate them all. So, I got the regular Hikari algae wafers, but the rubber lip doesn't seem to recognize them as food when they sink to the bottom.

My main question is, should I try sticking algae wafers to the glass with something? Can someone suggest a good critter-safe way to do this?

edit: also put some blanched zucchini in last night, but again, I think since it's on the bottom he doesn't get that it's for him. The snails appreciate it though

 

[CrazedAce]

He sounds like he is still adjusting to the tank. Does he have a designated hiding place yet or is there sufficient places for him to hide? I feed my bristlenose plecos (on occasion) raw cucumber and sweet potato. They gnaw on the sweet potato for a while before it makes a dent, the cukes are gone by the next day. They've only ever refused food when they are stressed. And for some reason they hate the "all veggie" wafers I got from kensfish.com.

 

[DMD123]

I dont know why but Plecos really seem to be attracted to good old NLS sinking pellets. Ive used the Omega One algae wafers and they are so so about going after it, but drop the NLS and they come out of the woodwork for it. Its not even the garlic stuff.

 

[Gryphon]

Do you have any wood in the tank? I can't remember off the top of my head if the rubber lip plecos are among the kind that like some wood fiber in their diet.

 

[LuminousAphid]

I do have wood, and he is on it sometimes lately, but I think he's just getting algae off it, not really rasping at the wood. Although the very outside layer of the wood gets pretty soft, so maybe he is eating some of it.

I do have places for him to hide, there is a rock in one corner and a piece of wood, he also seems to like hiding behind the HOB filter.

He doesn't seem super skinny, so I'm not terribly worried yet- maybe he's just eating the leftovers from others at night, and I just don't see him scavenging around.

 

[hobbyorobsession]

shrimp pellets

 

[iandraco]

shrimp pellets

good call. plecos love them.

 

[Spyral]

+1 for the sinking NLS pellets and a piece of cucumber (but clear off the seeds first to avoid a mess). Pleco will always find something to eat.

 

[Paintguy]

yes.. always cut out the seeds or they might end up in your filter.

 

[LuminousAphid]

Success! I think he finally came out last night and ate some blanched zucchini, because pretty much the whole thing minus the skin was there when I went to bed, and now there's just the zinc plant weight that I used to hold it down. I don't think the few snails in there could finish that off by themselves overnight.

I will try the shrimp pellets, I have omega one and also Hikari "crab cuisine" (everything in the tank loves these). Usually during the day, my other fish will pretty much hunt down the crab cuisine and eat it, but I will try putting a couple of these in at night when I go to bed.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I will let you know how the shrimp pellets work out. He has been less shy lately, and actually comes out during the day, so maybe if I place one right next to his head he will get the idea : 

 

[plaamoo]

It's easy to overfeed and spoil your water in situations like this. Something to keep in mind.

 

[nick_76]

I had a rubber lip. it wouldn't eat, and then it died. now I don't have a rubber lip anymore.


congrats on getting yours to eat

 

[plaamoo]

I had a rubber lip. it wouldn't eat, and then it died. now I don't have a rubber lip anymore.


congrats on getting yours to eat

You should write children's books.

Sorry about your fish.

 

[MorganEA]

I had a rubber lip. it wouldn't eat, and then it died. now I don't have a rubber lip anymore.

:laughhard: 

 

[anthony]

I hope you pleco people don't hate me for this one but I have never fed my plecos. I just don't clean the back pane of the tank. I have tried before but the food usually just sits there. If you only have 1 pleco in the tank there will always be something for him to eat. There is always algae all over the tank that you can"t even see/ they will eat fish food from the gravel/algae off the decor. If you have a foot long pleco in a ten gallon tank you might have to feed it or if you have multiple plecos you might have to feed them. One rubber lip in a 10 or 20 gallon will be finding a lot of food you don't even know is there. Lots of plecos do their searching for food when the lights are out.

 

[LuminousAphid]

Thanks anthony, that's pretty much what I have been hearing from others too. I think he is probably fine, he still seems energetic and is still sucking on the glass most of the time I see him, so he seems to be getting enough to eat I guess.

I'm just worried about these things because my tank isn't really very established at about 2 months old, and I'm still in that "ohmygod I'm going to kill everything" phase where I haven't learned to just give things time. I'm slowly learning this, and trying to make myself just stop messing with things.

 

[nick_76]

You should write children's books.

Sorry about your fish.

heinrich Hoffman was a master at this, here is a synopsis of his most famous, Struwwelpeter, a book of 10 short stories (whose descriptions I shamelessly copied from Wikipedia)link to hoffman's childrens books on project gutenberg


1."Struwwelpeter" describes a boy who does not groom himself properly and is consequently unpopular.
2.In "Die Geschichte vom bösen Friederich" (The Story of Bad Frederick), a violent boy terrorizes animals and people. Eventually he is bitten by a dog, who goes on to eat the boy's sausage while he is bedridden.
3.In "Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" (The Dreadful Story of the Matches), a girl plays with matches and burns to death.
4.In "Die Geschichte von den schwarzen Buben" (The Story of the Black Boys), Saint Nicholas catches three boys teasing a dark-skinned boy. To teach them a lesson, he dips the three boys in black ink, to make them even darker-skinned than the boy they'd teased.
5."Die Geschichte von dem wilden Jäger" (The Story of the Wild Huntsman) is the only story not primarily focused on children. In it, a hare steals a hunter's musket and eyeglasses and begins to hunt the hunter. In the ensuing chaos, the hare's child is burned by hot coffee and the hunter falls into a well, presumably to his death.
6.In "Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher" (The Story of the Thumb-Sucker), a mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. However, when she goes out of the house he resumes his thumb sucking, until a roving tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors.
7."Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar" (The Story of the Soup-Kaspar) begins as Kaspar, a healthy, strong boy, proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup. Over the next five days he wastes away and dies.
8.In "Die Geschichte vom Zappel-Philipp" (The Story of the Fidgety Philip), a boy who won't sit still at dinner accidentally knocks all of the food onto the floor, to his parents' great displeasure.
9."Die Geschichte von Hans Guck-in-die-Luft" (The Story of Johnny Head-in-Air) concerns a boy who habitually fails to watch where he's walking. One day he walks into a river; he is soon rescued, but his writing-book drifts away.
10.In "Die Geschichte vom fliegenden Robert" (The Story of the Flying Robert), a boy goes outside during a storm. The wind catches his umbrella and sends him to places unknown, and presumably to his doom.