have you ever thought about the fruits and vegetables in the region where your plecos came from? I was looking at Venezuela and bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, papayas, guavas, mangoes, cashews, aguacates, zapotes, granadillas come from there. What is the probability that these fall into the water and is what the plecs eat that are from this region? What about other parts of South America where the plecs occur naturally?

I have thought about it in general terms, but really have no idea of what grows in the region.

One thing to consider, is which foods are native to the region, and which have been introduced by the colonials to stock their plantations ?

You'd expect plenty of stuff to end up in the water ways. In fact I actually did watch fish in South America, eating fruit, on a TV doco. So yes, it happens.

I guess a contributing factor is the immense range of their flood waters. Inthat regard, I don't see how you could avoid having Nuts, Fruit, and what-not, in the water.

Yes i have, and have posted somthing about it, somewhere else on here i will see if i can find it

The nuts that the plecs eat aren't like the ones available to us. Uncooked, unsalted, right off the tree.

I'm gunna just skip over that one, I think !

Well, being a farmboy, I have some concept of nuts off a tree (shut up, Nick!). Walnuts, and Almonds, have quite a decent shell about them, that'd take some chewing.

Peanuts have a reasonably soft shell, but of course they grow with the spuds. The buggers probably float un-shelled anyway ! Cashews, I have no idea how they're grown. I suspect a bush ? You can readily buy them unsalted, and I've thought about trying them out on the fish. They are a softer nut.

I tried a bannana last night. I put 2 pieces in the 135 and 1 of the pieces was almost gone and the other was mostly untouched. I put a piece in the 50 gallon last night and they were still working on it this morning, so I left it in. I'm going to try and find some other fruits and veggies that are from South America and try them as well.

Good glad to hear your trying new foods, how big a piece did you put in ? Keep us informed

The pieces were about 3"-4" in length and were cut in half length wise.

Hey Funky did you try any other bits of fruit or have you not had time yet ?

I might toss some Pear in tonight. It's a tad softer than Apple.