how often should I feed my pleco veggies

[new2ovas]

I am fairly new to the site and aquariums.  I have a common pleco I have had for maybe a year now and I have seen him grow up to about 4 inches or so.  I have been reading recently that we should be feeding them fresh veggies, I was wondering how often we should be doing this.  I have only been feeding him flake food once a day but am now starting to wonder if I should be feeding him differently and how frequently.

tks for the advice,

cheers

[dan2x38]

Every now and then I put in some veggies I use a veggie clip. Some plecos like/need wood in their diet - yes wood fibre. Do you have any driftwood in there? Most any pleco will grind away at wood it is good for them all.

[new2ovas]

I do have a piece of drift wood in there - from the ocean (saltwater). it has been boiled and boilded again.  the pleco loves it but it also has a lot of cloudy sludge that grows from it and sticks to everything else in the tank and the best part is that it has a lot of crap floating in it.  any suggestions how to keep the wood but get rid of this cloudy I don't know what?

[dan2x38]

I would not use driftwood from the ocean. To much is absorbed and stored in it. I think it would affect the pH especially in a small tank. The pH might raise higher then plecos like. Plecos are a South American fish. Who knows what is leaching out of the wood. Maybe others have an opinion but this is mine.

[LittleAngel104]

I've been feeding my Plecos just about everything!  They are not picky!!!  Algea wafers,   shrimp pellets,  bloodworms,  tubifex worms,  flakes,  etc...

I also treat them to blanched veggies (veggies which I have put in boiling water for about 1 to 2 minutes) once in a while.  They LOVE the zucchini and the eggplant.  They also munch on cauliflower and brocoli,  but you have to remove wathever is not eaten since it will stink-up your tank.  Try a couple of things and see what you pleco prefers!