Feeding Chaetostoma sp.

[Elspeth]

I have two of these -- yes, they are the PetsMart "rubber nosed plecos"! They are quarantined with a school of long-finned rosy barbs. When we move out of quarantine, I'll get some good pictures for ID; I have one small and one large, and I am not sure they are the same species. Been home about 2 weeks now.

My concern is that when I do see them out and about, especially glass-sucking, they do not seem as plump as my other suckermouthed fishies. Well, we've had some excessively well-fed fish around here when we put our fist few into tanks with lots of algae, so I wasn't too worried at first. However, I am seeing almost a sunken belly on the smallest rubber plec now. It could be a trick of the glass, I'm not that sure (and s/he moved before I could snap a picture for comment), but I'm a little concerned.

I've been feeding algae wafers nightly, just like the others get, and shrimp pellets twice a week. Is this the correct diet? I am going to try some bloodworms tonight, since "most live and frozen foods" are recommended in the cat-elog entry, but I would have thought that any fish that did well in a PetSmart display tank would be well acclimated to prepared foods.

I'm not sure which Chaetostoma they are, but I do want them to do well! The Q-tank is rather crowded but water quality is good (no ammonia, no nitrites, and nitrates still low -- either the many plants sharing quarantine or frequent water changes seem to be keeping them under 20 ppm) and there are several hiding places on the bottom for just the two small Chaetostoma. I was planning to get them a little more current when I set up their home tank; could this be something they need sooner rather than later? Or do I need to feed more protiens? Or fresh veg? Cabbage leaves (adored by Tess, the common pleco), brussel sprouts, and the ever-popular zuke (courgette, I think, to those of you in the UK) have been disdained. Finally got some yams; should I cook them first?

Am I going to need to fill some shallow bowls with water and start collecting mosquito larvae?? Import algae from the outdoor pond??? Pen a menu in very small writing with a waterproof marker and watch them closely for signs of interest?

[Silurus]

I've had no trouble feeding mine (which was also one of those chain store rubbernoses) with just about anything...shrimp pellets, algae wafers, zucchini, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, even flakes. And whenever I forget a feeding or two, it's always grazing on algae. Consequently, it has always looked well-fed, even plump sometimes.
FWIW, mine's a Chaetostoma cf. thomsoni and you can see some pics of it in the Cat-eLog.