Hi, what would you recommend? I set up a 120 planted cube recently and am looking at algae eaters for it. Can't have snails because it has dwarf chain loach. It currently has a large royal whiptail that prefers fish food and other fish to algae. I don't want plecos as they tend to dislodge epiphyte plants.
No large pleco but bristlenose pleco (ancistrus) are fine as they stay small and won’t destroy plants. Panda gara are excellent algae eater, cute and active during the day. I have not had hillstream loach/ Borneo sucker before but read that many have kept them successfully and even bred in warmer temp up to 80F. They look like mini stingray and I will get one to try it out in my mid 70s planted tank.
Well seems like not many people with experience on Borneo Suckers. i've had a few bristle nose plecos. Never really saw them and they would push the plants like java fern and anubias off the hardscape when they try to squeeze under the roots. Panda Garra it is then.
I have dozens of bristlenose pleco in my Anubias and Java fern scapes, and they never push them off. If yours keep coming off, they are not rooting right. How do you attach the epiphytes to hardscape. I use superglue to get started.
Zip ties should work, but superglue is easier. It also depends on the surface. Roots will grasp tightly on rough lava and lace rock surfaces, less so on smooth surface rock. It takes a few weeks to develop anchoring roots, if not, your epiphytes are not growing.
I have BNP and I have experienced both worlds. My current holdings of java fern do not want to attach securely after being super glue and being in the tank for months. I have attached to maple, bogwood and alder with no real firm hold from the java. I have anubius attached to the same species of wood and those have taken hold.
FishBeast has a panda gara and borneo sucker riverine tank that is amazing.
