ive had my 250l livebeaer tank up and running for nearly 3 months now and its getting alot of algae on certain surfaces, so was thinking about introducing two BN plecs male and female, ive got the tank look really nice very crystal clear water and i dont want to spoil it with putting bogwood/mangrove root in and discolouring the water yellowish, this still happened before when i had throughly let them soak in water for a week.

I know that suckin on roots is part of a plecs diet, helps digest food i think, but is it essential if i supliment their diet with fresh veggie leaves etc? my tank is primarliy made up of four large peices of slate, and hoping to add another couple of small bits to create caves

Im also in two mind whether to add a batch of armano/aglae shrimp, can these cohabit with BN plecs? Ive kept BN plecs before in my previous tanks and had no problems

Thanks Darren

bogwood isnt essential for them, but if it is just livebearers in the tank, then you can add a piece of tuffa rock as the bn cats will graze on thhis if there is no bogwood and is good for their digestion!

BN's will be fine without wood as long as they get fresh veg regularly (although imo they do prefer a tank with wood in - could you get an old piece off someone?). As far as I know shrimp and BN's are fine together.

Bogwood help to keep a healthy digestive system for the BN

I have to say that seeing my Bristlenose plecs (and all other plecs I have in my tank) gleefully sucking and rasping away on the wood would make me feel incredibly sorry for them to see them only with glass and a pile of rocks in their tank to cling onto. They clearly love the wood. So would you really want to keep a fish and deprive it of something it really enjoys?
They will survive on algae wafers and a varied diet without wood however. And are absolutely fine with amano shrimp.
But again, you would need a large number of amano's to reduce algae in your tank. Don't rely on them alone.
If you're worried about algae, re-position your tank and reduce the hours artificial light.

My suggestion: get an algae scraper and use some elbow grease!

This post has been edited by Bloo: May 13 2008, 08:38 PM

go to your Lfs and dont buy wood that hasn't been in water buy the stuff that is already in a tank that has clear water which imply's that most of the tannis from the bogwood would have gone.

bn's are great fun and lovely plecs but like bloo said it just wouldnt be right on the bn's my old ones used to adore there wood!

cheers for the replies guys, couldnt seem to get a hold of a decent pair or BN's so i opted for a group of 8 otos, and in 2 days have clenaed my tank thoroughly along with my 10 algae shrimp! well pleased, will have to get some pics of the tank up soon

Daz

Livebearer tank should have an alkaline pH, and 250 litres is a decent size - I would have recommended a few hard working tiger nertite snails to clean the algae.

Otos can be a bit sensitive, and IME prefer an acidic pH and like grazing on wood just as much as BN's.

Hope the oto's work though, if you got decent ones and have clean water there's no reason they shouldn't. Remember tiger nerites just in case though .