Algae-eating fish

[Lupin]

I confirms beblodie's statement on the potential for slime sucking by plecos from slow moving fishes like catfish and gars. I say this from personal experience, i had a common pleco that loved to suck on RTCs and gars which resulted in scarring of RTCs and leisions on gars. Needless to say pleco was removed.

PS: i do intend to try it again since there are numerous people on this forum who have kept succesfuly plecos with slow moving fish ... lets just hope a small pleco does not become lunch itself

It initially won't happen but if the clown knife goes beyond a foot length, chances are good the ancistrus will be gone. I doubt though the ornate bichir could attempt a full-grown male ancistrus.

And yes, most plecos do resort to sucking slime coat if they are not satisfied with their food supply. This also happened with discus and goldfish.

 

[ClownKnife28]

These are some stupid fish, then. Why would a bichir or clown knife allow a common pleco to suck their slime and scales? Can't they fight back and beat the pleco so he doesn't do it again?

And the CK will get over 1 feet long. I am going to be buying a 150 gallon tank by December to put my fish in.

 

[Lupin]

Bichirs are mostly peaceful for predators, CK.

 

[ctoychik]

Will the pleco also hurt my clown knife? Also, I thought gars were fast fish.

gars can be fast (in bursts) but usually it just stays in one place or slowly swims around. they are not in perpetual motion like aros for example.

Never kept clown knives so don't know if it constantly swims. If it does, then OK

 

[ctoychik]

Algae control
There are some 200,000 plus species of algae existing in the world today
and sooner or later you will have a visit from at least one of them.Why
you ask? There can be one reason or several in combination.

CAUSES
Too many fish(over crowding)
Poor plant growth
Overfeeding
Accumilation of waste
Excess nutrients(overfertilization)
Too high nitrate levels combined with excess phosphate or iron
Lighting of wrong intensity or unfavorable wavelength

PREVENTION
Use healthy fast growing plants
learn to properly feed the fish
regular maintenence to prevent build up waste
regular water changes
replacing lights especially flourescents(yearly)
water testing

CURING
SCRAPING AND SCRUBBING
Yes good old muscle power.There are commercialy made products like the scraper and
sponge on a stick they seem to work kind of ok however i find either a single edge razor blade
(for glass tanks) or an old credit card(acrylic tanks) work best to remove algae
from the tanks viewing surface.

Algaecides
Common ingredients to almost all commercial algaecides are either copper
or simazine both are toxic to fish and higher plant life.The dosage needed to kill
algae without harming fish or higher plants is hard if not impossible to determine.
Dying algae may releas toxins into the water or its decomposition may deplete oxygen
from the water and cause an amonia spike.

Water clearing agents
Flocculents should not be used in tanks with fish.Flocculents are positively
charged compounds that bind negatively charged particules so they bind together
and fall out of solution resulting in clearing.Since algae cells are negatively
charged Flocculents will clear green water.
Theres a possible problem tho,the gill surfaces of fish also carry a negative
charge.The Flocculentscan bind the gill filaments together destroying the gill
structure.

ULTRAVIOLET STERILIZERS
.....

FAST GROWING PLANTS
The idea here is using higher plant forms to outcompete algae for nutrients
The below list has the plants name first followed by lighting requirement
and finally ideal *temperature ranges.(see note 1)

LIGHTING INTENSITY
1.5-2 watts of lighting per gallon=low to medium light levels
2-2.5 watts of lighting per gallon=medium to high light levels
2.5-3 watts of lighting per gallon=high to very high light levels

PLANTS
......

Beblodie is right. Prevent the algae. If you do get it, remove it with good old fashioned scrubbing ^^ (tough if you have a huge and deep aquarium). I never tried (still don't dare to try) chemical solutions. I will be putting in the plants - have no idea what they are but will post pictures when it is done (found these in one of the restaraunts, apparently does not need direct sunlight. the leaves and main part are above the water while the rest is submerged). The only plant i know is water hyacinte (nice purple flowers) - though check legality of that one for USA. PS: i will be using these as part of selection seeing that they are available here

 

[ClownKnife28]

Bichirs are mostly peaceful for predators, CK.

You're saying that CK's are not pushovers? They always seem so peaceful.

 

[Lupin]

You're saying that CK's are not pushovers? They always seem so peaceful.

I've kept a clown knife before but didn't keep it for a long time. I can say it was peaceful when it was a juvenile. Can't speak though for full-grown ones. May need benzjamin13 to chime in further about its behavior.

 

[bluehairman]

i have seen a ck, oscar, black leopard eel, and jd all live in a 130. kinda cramped for all them though.

would my rubber lip pleco cause a problem for my senegal? he's just a lil guy right now and very active, but i'm just worried for when he becomes a fat lazy log at the bottom of the tank lol

 

[ClownKnife28]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+1162+938&pcatid=938

Will this fish hurt an ornate bichir? It says to be wary of this fish around large angel fish and discus, so I am concerned about it around my ornate bichir. What do you guys think?

Also, according to this: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+882+968&pcatid=968&N=0 kissing gouramis will also eat algae. Can this serve as my tank's algae eater or will they harm my bichir?

 

[Infblue]

yes 'algae eater' can do similar damage as pleco, and i've read about this happening. And if your algae eater is too small and/or can't keep up with the growth of the other fish (which is likely), it may eventually become lunch.