so i've got a little 1.5" albino bristlenose in a 10 gal with some guppy fry (it will go in a 55 in 3 weeks). I've recently been feeding cucumbers and lima beans. But i'm kinda worried that my little pleco is gonna eat itself to death. It is the only pleco in the tank(i might get another). Should i only have the vegtables in for a few hours every day or will it be ok with them in there all day (switching out the slice for a new one every 8 hours or so)?

ur little bristenose wont eat itself to death so dont worry. I know it seems like they eat a lot, but you have to remember that cucumber is 96% water so they have to eat a fair bit of it to get their food. But this is good as this repicates their normal diet of algae which is also mostly water.

I never leave vegies in for more than 48 hrs but i normally try and have them out after 24 for things like cucumber. Other vegies I remove much faster. I take zucchni out after only about 8hrs as i find it fouls the filters in my tanks. If i have blanched the vegies i remove them much sooner too as they seem to break down and cause bacterial blooms much faster.

If i can get the pleco to take the veggies raw, what would be the advantage of blanching?

some vegies are too hard for them to rip apart in any sort of decent time. things like carrot, borcolli stems etc are too hard. things like cucumber and zuchinni are soft enough right off the bat but others need a bit of a soften up.

so is the point of blanching to get the pleco to eat the food (cause mine eats raw cucumber fine), or is it to make the food easier for the fish to digest?

the point is to soften hard foods so that they can eat the easier. foods like cucumber dont need to be blanched as they are soft enough already, other foods like carrots are hard and need to be softened so that the bristlenose can eat them easily.