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Feeding bristlenose plecs without feeding snails

Ajm200

Member
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Messages
531
Location
London
Hi All,

Hopefully you'll forgive another question from a newbie to the forum.
From searching the forum I know that some of you are very successful at keeping bristlenose plecs and was wondering what you feed them? We've recently adopted two 2cm long bristlenose plecs who are cute but such messy eaters that I cdn only assume they are responsible for a sudden increase in mts snails that I just found on vacuuming the gravel. The snails are really tiny but there are enough for the gravel to visably move. Never had a snail problem (except apple snails) before they arrived.

The other 8 occupants of there tank share a novotab every 48 hrs. The BNs get a pleco chip that they mash into the substrate. They also get a bit of leftover veg after dinner that I remove from the tank after an hour.
There is very little natural algae in the tank. I had to relocate 3 ottos before the catfish came as they nearly starved and refused to eat algae wafers.

Pls help! Where am I going wrong? I'm dreading when the snails die back. The smell of dead snails is so revolting and my fish don't need the ammonia spike.

thanks
Amanda
 
Try feeding blanched lettuce or courget.
That stays relatively intact so can be easily removed.
Or consider some biological control.
 
Thanks MrLuke. I have a few assassin snails left over from a glut of apple snails that hatched while I was away on holiday. They are in that tank and seem to leave the MTS alone maybe they are just overwhelmed and we'll see their numbers increase soon.

I do feed courgette as one of the veggies that I put in pm along with things like sweet potato and mango. I'll cut back on the pleco tabs and leave the veggies in for longer.
 
Does anyone feed their BNs exclusively on veggies? They do have bogwood to gnaw on too?
 
bogwood is a must as they rasp on it.
veggies are also much prefered, even a lump of cucmber weighted down is appreciated.
Hikari algae pellets also go down a treat.
 
Thanks Nick. I've noticed that they like the Hikari wafers. They are the only food that the BNs defend also the ones that they make the most mess with! Tonight there's a screwcumber with a lump of cucumber and broccoli stem in each tank. They don't seem to sure about the broccolli but keep going back to it. If only the kids were so willing to try something new! I've moved some shrimps into the snail infested tank hopefully they can clean up the bits of wafer the BNs scatter before the snails get to them.

Also thinking about putting the wafers on something that can catch the 'crumbs' to make cleanup easier.
 
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