I have a dinosaur eel in a 20 gal with 2 clown loaches and a small rubber lipped pleco (named Mick Jagger). Anyway, the eel always steels the pleco's algae wafers. I'm mostly worried that the pleco isn't getting enough to eat/nutrients but also that maybe all that plant matter is bad for the eel, who i know is almost exclusively a carnivore. (its actually pretty funny when he steels it because it doesn't fit in his mouth, so he'll swim around the tank with the wafer sticking out of his mouth like a dog with a frisbee!)
The pleco seems to do alright on the algea growing in the tank, flake food and the occasional snagged blood worm but i was wondering if there is a better way to solve the problem other than to not serve the algae wafers and hope the pleco gets enough food from the things i feed the other fish. (I'm pretty sure the eel is getting enough to eat, he gets a cocktail of bloodworms, brine shrimp, and he even eats some flake food)
Thanks

Is the eel also nocturnal? I don't know much about them. Normally, I suggest putting the algae wafers in after the lights are out as most fish are asleep by then. My pleco mostly eats cucumber. I don't think the eel would eat that. Try some cucumber. Cut off a 2" piece, split it in half, spoon out the seeds, and secure it to the bottom. Remove what's left 24 hours later. Your loaches may nibble on it but I think the eel would leave that alone. If not, there should still be some for the pleco unless the eel takes the whole thing!

Ok, thanks, I'll try that.

However I have a new problem now. The eel's tail is floating (just his tail, not the whole fish). He looks perfectly healthy, swimming around, eating etc. but his tail keeps trying to float. He has half a plastic flower pot for a cave to rest in so he isn't getting worn out trying to stay down, but this can't be good (I just noticed it today). He's not that old either, I've had him about 3 years and got him when he was fairly small.
So how do I figure out what's causing this and how do I treat it?

I don't know much about dinosaur eels. I've never seen one except in photos. If the tail floats, there might be some extra gases in there but I'm not sure. If he's otherwise fine, I wouldn't worry too much. There used to be a few people on this forum who posted who had dinosaur eels but I don't think they've been on lately.

Since I'm not sure what's wrong, I don't know what to do about treatment either. Aquarium salt at a tablespoon per 5 gallons might help with some buoyancy issues.

Sorry I'm not of much help.

ok, thanks. However he magically got better on his own. He probably did have gases or something seeing as how he was eating some stuff he shouldn't. Also he doesn't go after cucumber at all so yay! everyone is happy and healthy. :)
Thanks again!

I'm glad the eel's better, and the pleco has some food for his own.