Feeding plecos while on vacation

Question
I am leaving for a six-week vacation in a few days. I have a mechanical feeder for my freshwater aquarium - mostly swordtails, with 3 cory cats, a pair of scissor tails, a couple of neons, etc. A general mix of community fish. About thirty fish altogether, in a 45 gal. tall aquarium.

My concern is my pleco. After the light goes out each night (it's is on a timer) I drop in two algae wafers. I will not have someone here to do that every night. On a previous vacation (not as long), I weighted zuchini (sp?) and the pleco I had then was fine when I returned.

What would you recommend for feeding my pleco in this situation? I have someone who will come in once or twice a week to make sure all is well, and fill the mechanical feeder when needed, but I do not have someone to come in every day and check the fish. I'm especially concerned about the pleco.

Thank you for you can suggest. We leave in six days, and I apologize for the short time span, but I just found your site. I will bookmark it for future use.

Answer
Hi Larry,
That is a problem when leaving fish for such a long time.  You could ask your pet store to keep him for you. This would be best if they could.  I'm quite sure they wouldn't mind doing this, as a pleco is no problem to keep.  Buy him his wafers, and offer to pay for his keep.  Most pet stores do this freely, but you could inquire.  You may even inquire if they know someone who is honest who would look after your fish while your gone.  Some pet stores have this service, or know someone who would happily do this for a small sum.  This would be the best thing to do if they do know someone.  6 weeks is a long time to leave fish, and if you found someone with experience, you wouldn't have to worry about water changes etc.  If not, then there isn't much you can do except ask the person who goes in twice a week to feed your pleco 3 wafers each time.
You may have a website such as "Kijiji" if you put in the province where you live, and look up services, you may find someone there who is offering their service to look after fish.  I have done this in the past, and was very surprised, not only did they look after my fish, but also my cat!  You could also call your vet, he may know of someone.
I hope this works out for you.
Lynda