Stupid question but how do I feed my new loach?

[phyhhe]

I've never had any loaches before and broke a cardinal rule by falling in love with one and buying it without researching it first.
It was sold as a Zebra Stone Sucker and I believe it is a male Sewellia lineolata. I can see where they got the name from though as the stripes are so like my Zebra Danios. He seems happy and is grazing all over the walls of the tank and pebbles etc. There is quite a bit of water movement for him so ok on that front, however, here comes the stupid question...
I've read all the articles i can find and have a good idea of what to feed him but how do I get him to it before the rest of the ever hungry mouths get to it?

[mickthefish]

HI and welcome to LOL
What other fish are in the tank with it?, the Sewelia will eat a wide variety of food so as long as you have a good inventory of food it should settle down well.
mine eat live and frozen foods, algae wafers, catfish pellets, and an assortment of different flake foods.

mick

[phyhhe]

Thanks for the welcome Mick

Hes in a tank with:

6 Zebra Danios
4 Glowlight Danios
6 Platies
4 Guppies
1 Clown Plec
1 Betta
4 Albino corys

I feed them a selection of micro wafers, flakes, micro pellets, algae wafers and dried bloodworm.

My concern is that the rest of them will have eaten the food before he even realises its there.

[mickthefish]

don't worry, they are quick of the mark where foods concerned and once on it they don't like sharing.

mick

[starsplitter7]

How long have you had him?

I have an assortemtt of Hillstreams, and once they settled in, they are very quick with the food. I have one that sits on an algae wafer -- covers the entire thing with his body, and nums away at it. I have a much smaller species, that will wedge his head in and share the algae wafer, but the big one doesn't appreciate it. It is very funny to watch.

I have a Bristlenose in with mine, and so I put in zucchini and cucumber for her on a regular basis. All the hillstreams will pile on and num, num away on the zucchini.

[Diana]

I would add fresh or lightly cooked vegetables to that list for both the Pleco and the Sewellia. The Platies also appreciate some plant based foods.
A Clown Plec might be one of the wood eating Loricariads, so be sure there is driftwood in the tank, too.

[phyhhe]

I've only had him a few days but so far he is sooo good to watch. He's either shimmying across the glass or floating from one area to another. So far he doesn't seem to notice when I put food in the tank.

Coco the clown plec has just had some driftwood with java fern and is very attached to it

[Jim Powers]

In my experience, Sewellia are one of the quickest hillstreams to acclimate to prepared and frozen fish foods.

[phyhhe]

Thanks for that, I'll just give the little guy a chance to settle in.