Can Plecos Eat Carrots?

It’s common knowledge that many types of fish will happily chow down on pretty much anything green — including spinach, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, zucchini… even wood. But how about carrots? Do plecos really like these orange root vegetables?

Yes, plecos can eat carrots. However, you have to properly prepare the carrots before you can feed them to your plecos.

You can’t just drop a massive, raw carrot into your fish tank and expect your pleco to eat it like Bugs Bunny.

That’s not going to work.

Preparing Carrots for Plecos

I recommend blanching carrots before feeding them to your plecos. The blanching process will soften up the carrot and make it much easier for your pleco to eat it.

A blanched carrot will also sink while a raw carrot will float. Your pleco will not eat a floating carrot.

Weird, I know, but that’s how it works with plecos.

You can also microwave the carrot before feeding it to your pleco. It’s a lot less time consuming to microwave a carrot than to blanch one, so most pleco owners prefer microwaving rather than blanching.

Cut The Carrot Up

Finally, you should cut the carrot up into smaller pieces before dropping it in your fish tank. I have read stories about owners just dropping an entire carrot into their fish tank and then acting surprised when nobody eats it.

Recommended Reading:

Do Plecos Eat Algae?

These are fish not rabbits. They have tiny mouths and can only nibble on a carrot.

It’s a whole lot easier for them to eat a carrot if its cut up into smaller pieces.

Closing Words

To summarize, plecos can eat carrots. You just have to prepare them by either blanching or microwaving the carrot and then cutting it up into smaller pieces.

This makes carrots an excellent food option if you have run out of more traditional fish food for your plecos.

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