# are algae wafers safe for catfish?



## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

i put an algae wafer in for my pleco since it says to feed at night and the second that thing hit the bottom of the tank, all 4 catfish came out of the little plant they hid in and scavenged around until they started playing around and swimming around with it in their mouths.

needless to say i dont think my pleco will get a chance at getting this wafer and i doubt the catfish will share.

and now that all the fish are woken up by the hopes of food they all decided to gang up on the little wafer as soon as the pleco finally caught onto whats going on


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

It won't hurt them, but you may have to put one at one end of the tank so the other fish go after it, then drop one in where the pleco is.


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## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

susankat said:


> It won't hurt them, but you may have to put one at one end of the tank so the other fish go after it, then drop one in where the pleco is.


ill try that, i was also thinking of dropping in some of the regular fish food to distract all the other fish and drop the wafer in near the pleco.

why do i have to feed the pleco at night? is that just when all the other fish are asleep and less chance of the wafer getting stole or are the plecos more active at night?


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Anything on the bottom Corys will investigate and try to eat. Corys don't seem to be interested in live Algae but will eat Algae Waffers just as readily as bottom pellets. I have Corys and Plecos in several of my tanks and I feed them at any time of the day. My large Plecos don't like me around when they eat so they often hide when they see me. Try feeding your Pleco at one end of the tank and your Corys at the other and feed them early in the morning.


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## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

NeonShark666 said:


> Anything on the bottom Corys will investigate and try to eat. Corys don't seem to be interested in live Algae but will eat Algae Waffers just as readily as bottom pellets. I have Corys and Plecos in several of my tanks and I feed them at any time of the day. My large Plecos don't like me around when they eat so they often hide when they see me. Try feeding your Pleco at one end of the tank and your Corys at the other and feed them early in the morning.


i might have to turn the filter off during feeding then because the circulation pushes the pellets all over the tank


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

you could try breaking the wafer into several parts and spreading them around the aquarium.


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

Or even just give two wafers, if they're that popular, so long as they get eaten in a timely fashion. Read the ingredient list: most algae wafers first ingredient is fish meal, there's no wonder why the other fish go nuts for them.


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## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

my girlfriend loves feeding my fish so ill have her break it apart and hopefully that works too


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## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

chris oe said:


> Or even just give two wafers, if they're that popular, so long as they get eaten in a timely fashion. Read the ingredient list: most algae wafers first ingredient is fish meal, there's no wonder why the other fish go nuts for them.


the first ingredients in my wafers are "wheat germ meal" and "feeding oat meal".


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I purchase 2 types of wafers, one is spirulina wafers which is basically pure algae and the other is spirulina with meat. All of my fish go for them.


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

Sounds like you guys have found some good high veggie brands - I've been looking for some without fish meat and have been having trouble finding any (plecos should have veg only tabs to avoid bloat and everything I've found has fish meal as its first ingredient) what brands are you using? I've been to a couple local fish stores and checked a couple online stores and so far everything was coming up fishmeal...


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## Totem44 (Mar 15, 2011)

I have the same problem with cichlids and a catfish, the cichlids eat it before it hits the ground. Gotta distract the other fish from the pellets


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## Jack Harkness (Jan 20, 2011)

since people have been telling me to get driftwood for my pleco i called the petstore and the guy told me the kind they sell is overpriced for how small they were and told me to find my own driftwood and boil it in salt water and let it dry out and put it in my tank.

so i went to the lake i live on and i couldnt find any wood, then i remembered i had a large piece of cork branch i used in my terrarium. can i put my cork branch in there if i sterilize it the same way or is cork branch not good to put in water?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

chris oe said:


> Sounds like you guys have found some good high veggie brands - I've been looking for some without fish meat and have been having trouble finding any (plecos should have veg only tabs to avoid bloat and everything I've found has fish meal as its first ingredient) what brands are you using? I've been to a couple local fish stores and checked a couple online stores and so far everything was coming up fishmeal...


Go to kensfish.com that is where I purchase all my foods. You can get spirulina in wafers, sticks and they also carry veggie flakes.


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