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How long can I keep pieces of zucchini in the tank before it becomes unappetizable to the fish? I have two clown plecs who haven't touched the piece of zuchinni I tossed in yesterday as we had guests over and the room lights were on well into the night. I think I will leave the zuchini in there for another day, will that be ok?

You should be able to leave the zucchini in until it becomes very soft, and bits of it start coming off. That won't happen for a few days, so you should be fine.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Well it's been a few days since the zuchini has been in there and today there is a mushroom-shaped hole right in the middle of it. Is this the product of the clown plecos' work or could snails have done this? I have pest snails which are very small(not huge apple snails or anything like that) and I've always been seeing one or two of them on the zuchini. They don't seem like they could possibly have made the hole since they're so small and only a few are ever on it, so am I right to assume that the clown plecos have eaten? It seems strange that there's a mushroom shaped hole in the middle and only the middle.:%) Please reply asap

[span class="edited"][Edited by Mkcube 2004-08-02 12:58][/span]

I think it's very likely your plecos have discovered the zucchini. It's not surprising that they've eaten the middle first - my fish usually eat the middle first and leave the hard rind until last. Hopefully by the time you're reading this you will have found out who's eating the veges and you can make it a regular part of their diet.

The middle is the softest therefor they ate that. kinda like a water melon.

Thanks for the replies. I'm happy that the clowns have survived so long and are finally eating! From previous experience I have never been able to keep Bristlenose Plecs alive and I thought there must be something I was doing wrong but the day I bought the clown plecs the salesmen told me that their bristlenoses were wild-caught which must be the reason every single bristlenose plec I bought was diseased or weakened because they were always found dead with red marks on them. Since the clown plecs have lasted so long I guess it just confirms my suspicion! I'm so happy that I can keep plecs alive, though these aren't such good algae-eaters....oh well I like them.

P.S: I have a vegetable clip and was wondering if I clipped it to the glass or to a rock would the clowns still find the vegetable? I wouldn't normally ask such a presumably dumb question but they look as if they don't move around very much and wouldn't be able to find it.lol So would they?

[span class="edited"][Edited by Mkcube 2004-08-02 19:31][/span]

I think that maybe you might have something wrong with your set up if you're losing BN's all the time.

Maybe a quick look at your water parameters might tell you a lot.

I beleive BN's don't handle high nitrates very well.

No, I believe the stock I've been getting from the LFS is very poor since they are wild-caught and nearly every one of them have red marks in the store which progress and eventually end in the BN's demise in a period of about three days. I don't believe it's my water quality since my water is very clear and I change 30% every week and none of my other fish have died continuously like the BNs have, so all evidence points to the LFS's poor quality stock since the clown plecs have sure survived and are living well.

Just as a curious note, why did you buy them if they had red patches?

This would certainly point to disease or a weakened fish, surely?

I think bn handle high nitrates easy. Not sure though cause my nitrates are always kept around 0

Curare, Yes It would but the thing is I'm very impatient and since my LFS is always so slow on receiving their special-ordered shipments I always snatched them up no matter what condition they were in. It's a bad habit but I think it's been tamed now.

Hehehe

I know how you feel Mkcube!

GIMME! ]