food

[Phoebe]

I read somewhere that a Pterygoplichthys pardalis eat the first years vegetarian food. After several years he is a omnivore.
Is this correct?

[bekateen]

Hi Phoebe,

I've had only one

Pterygoplichthys pardalis

in recent history, and it did show this behavior, but not in the way I think you're envisioning. In my case, my pardalis was more of an "algae" eater when it was young, and less of an "algae" eater when it got older/larger. As an adult, it still ate algae pellets when offered, but it was not as interested in scraping algae off of aquarium glass and decorations.

After several years he is a omnivore. Is this correct?

To be honest, I suspect that my pardalis was omnivorous all along. It was always happy to eat any fish flakes that made it to the bottom of the aquarium.

So I wouldn't say that it wasn't an omnivore when young, but I would say it was more interested in algae when it was young. I'm not sure if that's common to all pardalis, but it was to mine. I also had similar experiences with my

flying fox

es and

Siamese algae eater

s.

Hopefully someone else with more experience can also offer some better perspective.

Cheers, Eric

P.S., @Moderators, can we move this thread to the Loricariidae thread, instead of the Callichthyidae thread? Thanks

[Phoebe]

Thank you for the information. I make fishfood myself so I can the choose the amount of vegetables and fish.
Cheers Phoebe

[Birger]

Moved to the Loricariidae forum...might get some better response for the subject.

Birger

[bekateen]

Thanks, Birger.

[Shane]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... ts+what%3F

-Shane

[Phoebe]

It's difficult to find what is the right information, according to these data, the Pterygoplichthys is a vegetarian while the experience of Eric is not te same.
I think I have to rely on someone who has already had the fish and now I give both, algae and fish.
Tanks

[bekateen]

It's difficult to find what is the right information, according to these data, the Pterygoplichthys is a vegetarian while the experience of Eric is not te same.

Hi Phoebe,
I understand your confusion, but the information is not as different as it sounds. When I referred to my pleco as an omnivore, as I said it liked to eat some regular (omnivorous) fish flake food which reached the tank bottom (because other fish didn't eat it first). And because of that, the pleco wasn't eating algae like it did when it was small. However, that doesn't mean the the diet is better for the pleco, only that the pleco prefers that diet over algae. There are different kinds of algae, and some algae are not popular with plecos for food. But if you offer them vegetables or vegetarian pellets/wafers, they'll be healthier on that diet than on a meatier diet.

To be honest, in my opinion fish are sort of like people- dumb when it comes to tasty foods. We'll eat way too much junk food because we like how it tastes. Pardalis is naturally a vegetarian. But this doesn't mean that (A) pardalis will reject omnivous-type foods, or that (B) pardalis is a great algae eater. In fact, plecos are at risk of bloat when they get too much of a meaty diet.

So I would defer to the wisdom of Shane and others with more experience than myself. I've owned only one pardalis in recent history, but other people here have kept many more than me. I think the best advise would be to stick with a vegetarian diet, but vary it with different vegetarian foods. And if your pardalis eats some meatier foods once in a while , that's okay. Just don't starve your pleco by forcing it to survive on whatever algae is in your tank, and don't overindulge it on too much high protein, meaty foods.

I'm sorry if my original post was distracting and confusing. Perhaps I didn't present that information well.

Cheers, Eric

[Phoebe]

thank you for the detailed information.
Now I know what the correct fish food should be. It is important if for the new owner, because I sadly can not keep him because my tank is too small.
Cheers Phoebe