# Birstlenose Pleco and Cholla Wood



## Phougi (Jul 30, 2013)

Hi,

I have two BN Plecos and looking to get them some rasping wood. I'm looking at Cholla wood and I really like the look of it. Has anyone had experience with this type of wood with their plecos? Any effects? Water parameters changing? Any experience and tips are gladly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

cholla wood is great for plecos. its soft and will break down easy for them. mine loved it. i did boil it for a while so it would sink


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## Phougi (Jul 30, 2013)

I have heard it rots after a while. Has that happened to your pieces yet?


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

It doesn't really rot, it sort of dissolves if that makes sense. Slowly over time it gets thinner and thinner. Mine chew the day lights out of it. It lasts a couple months for me and then I just take out the little pieces that are left and put a new piece in


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Jan 16, 2013)

It's from a cactus which i think is neat. My pleco's dont seem to care for it, but most pleco's do like it. I think my snails like it more. It shouldnt effect anything, might buffer the PH a little bit, but nothing really noticeable or to concern over. Give it a try.


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## Phougi (Jul 30, 2013)

Thanks for all your feedback. I got a nice big piece yesterday. It's beautiful with lots of room for my plecos!


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

well first off cholla is not really a wood but a cactus. it becomes weak over time but some of mine i had for years in a tank. one i made into a palm tree looking thing i had for 4 years. it was ok till i pulled it out of the tank and i squashed it pretty easy but if it was in a tank it was fine.


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## Phougi (Jul 30, 2013)

Yeah, I plan to keep it the way it is for a while. Did you soak/boil it before or just dropped it in?


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## Melooley (Jul 18, 2013)

I just added some Mopani driftwood for my BNs, but in this part of Texas, it's a lot easier (and cheaper!) to get cholla skeleton than buy Mopani. I'd imagine you'd want to boil it for a bit, but it shouldn't need the lengthy soaks since I don't think it has much in the way of tannins to leach out.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

mopani it a hard wood and can be hard for bn to digest or even rasp on. yes its pretty but there is a reason its used in tanks. it does not break down easy. as for cholla i have done both. it can take a while for new big pieces to sink so some i would boil just to make them sink. large pieces can also releast tannins but not normaly enought to alter ph but enough to make the water look a bit dirty depending on the size of wood vs the tank size


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## shawnmcc (Feb 14, 2008)

yep my pleco chews on it and has for forever. It is realy thin now and almost gone. The only problem with plecos is they can atach to ther fish somtimes drowning them if the fish is not able to get away.


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## Phougi (Jul 30, 2013)

I'll make sure to watch out for them!


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