:lol: Hi....
My first posting, and another relatively new fish-keeper!!
Ive read most of the postings, what a great site!!!
Can someone help me??
Ive got a 50 gallon tank which has one Golden Orfe[yes i now know it should be in a pond, but you dont know that when an inquisitive youngster spots it in the pet shop amongst the Goldfish]....2 common Golfish, 2 Saraso comets and 2 fancies....
They were creating quite a lot of algae, and the glass was never clean, and having seen Plecs amongst Goldfish in my pet shop, bought a couple cheap off ebay, a month ago and put them in with the others.
They are both common varieties ive been told, one an albino and one a leopard print and are both about 10-12" long.Both came from the same tank. One seems to be dominant over the other and although they dont fight, the submissive one will simply move to another place when his buddy comes around.
Ive got lots of bogwood and places for them to hide.
I watch them quite a lot, i was worried about the welfare of the smaller fish at first, but now my worry concerns the Plecs.Ive never seen them eat!!
I put in cucumber/potato/peas/algae wafers, and the other fish seem to eat it all including their own food.The Plecs must be eating as they produce a lot of waste, but ive never seen them............
Can anyone suggest a food that the smaller fish may leave alone??
Thanks in anticipation......

First things first. What temperature is your tank at? Usually goldfish are colder water fish than plecos. For feeding, I have had the best luck with cucumbers. None of my other fish eat them, but I don't keep goldfish, so I can't be much help there.

My tank is presently 75-78 degrees and has been this temp since the Plecs were introduced....The Goldfish love the cucumber.....I havent seen the Plecs touch it unless they do so at 3 a.m.!!!!

As you know, your tank has way too many big and potentially big fish. I have orfe that are 1.5 feet long, goldfish that are 14" long, and my pleco is 14" too. At a foot long, plecos eat and excrete a lot. They must be eating something. Large plecos normally can't suck on smaller goldfish (unlike small plecos with larger goldfish). I have my 14" pleco with 3 4" fantails in a 40 gallon tank which is pushing it (you have more than twice that). I put in cucumber daily. The goldfish eat a little but not too much of it. I also put in algae tablets every night for Plecy. My page on plecos is at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pleco.htm and includes information on feeding.
As your plecos are large, they are probably one of the common varieites. You need to put in the food for the plecos after the lights are out so the goldfish are less likely to eat it. Maybe you could build a nice pond for your orfe and goldfish and leave the plecos to duke it out in the 50 gallon tank!

Plecos at work like zuchinni as well, you may give that a shot. and sometimes is less messy than cucumbers, being its not as mushy and no seeds.

Thanks for the information, its a great site.
My Orfe is only 6" [i'll give him away to a good home in a pond if he gets huge] and the others between 2" to 5".
I always feed the Plecs last thing at night just before i turn all the lights out. Guess they are eating as there is a large amount of waste, just never seen them do so and was worried. The other fish just seem to attack ALL the food as soon as i put it in including the algae wafers. Wish i knew of something that the Plecs like but the others would leave alone. I will give shrimp pellets a try.
Thanks!!!!

I remove the seeds from the cucumbers before giving them to Plecy. I've tried zucchini but he doesn't like it. Each fish is different though.

yea, removing the seeds is a good idea... a bunch of cuccumber seeds wouldnt be too great for the filter.