Algae Eater Vs Guppy

[baboo_jenge]

My Algae eater and guppy keeps on fighting.
It sounds very strange and i never thought this would be possible.

When my guppies come up top to feed, algae eaters swim wiggling up and suck on the body of the guppies. Obviously, they are not as good swimmers as guppies, and can't keep on swimming for a long time so they go down after about 5s. Take some rest and come up again and try to suck on the body.

When guppies are done feeding and got nothing to do, they bite algae eaters. They dun have claw or fangs so they cant really do any damage but it's so strange.

It's like a war. And it seems a like a close one.

 

[-germ-]

What algae eater is it?
Not that i can help, but posters will need to know....

 

[donna123]

hi,
if its a cae, chinese algae eater you may have trouble, sometimes called golden algae eaters,
they can become very agressive with age, we need to know what type you have though first.

 

[dwarfgourami]

In the long run this game could weaken your guppies' health, so I would see about separating them.

 

[baboo_jenge]

they are chinese algae eaters. I know they tend to get aggressive as they grow but they are still relatively small.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Well it also depends on the age of the algae eater. As they get older they also get more aggressive. My boyfriend has one now who is going after his albino corycat. He has had his algae eater for about 6 months now and has gotten quite plump. So I would say to try and separate him, or re-arrange the tank and see if that has enough effect to confuse him and allow the guppies to regroup.

 

[-Nemo-]

I had an cae he was only about an inch long when he started to get in the habit of sucking out my neon tetra's eyes... 3 causalities the third time i caught him in the act and removed him. If he's chasing around your guppy now thats not good, he could get the guppy one of these times and even if he doesn't the stress is not good for the guppy. I'd say remove the algae eater, mine caused trouble to every fish i had in the tank (the ones in my sig) but could only get the neons. They are not good community fish imo.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

cae's get very aggressive, and it sounds like it's trying to suck the slime coat off the guppy. Remove him ASAP. Also, how big is the tank? I'm guessing the tank is pretty small (10 gallons or so) since you have guppies, and they also grow very large. So return him to the lfs you got him from or move him to a larger tank

ps.
sorry if that sounded harsh, just trying to make a point

 

[baboo_jenge]

thanks for the all the replies..
Well to start off, my tank is 15g with a couple of guppies from my old 10g. They are the babies of my very first guppies so they've always been my favorite. Although they may not look as good as some other guppies but i still like them. When i decided to move everything to 15g tank i gave away all the guppies except for the 5 guppies, which previously mentioned, are very special to me.

If i had to chose btw cae and the guppies i would defenitely choose the guppies, but I dont want to throw them out either. And i can't give it away cuz no one wants to take them. (not even petstore -__-). And my 29g tank is just getting started to be set up. Most likely to be finished in mid may when my exams are done.



ahhh....what to do with these guys....
lol i am too old to just flush them down the toilet and hope that they might live a 'good life' down there. Too old for those "your pet went to pet heaven. He prob is thanking you.. "

 

[donna123]

you cant flush them really,
some people like them if you give them away advertise local you may get someone interested

 

[Rillan]

You need to weigh it up in your head.... do you want guppies, a good community fish that wont cause problems. Or the cae who gets aggressive and will drasticly limt what you can have in your tank. You said you had a 10g tank, what happend to it? If you still have it put him it there until you know what you will do. Sorry i couldent be of more help.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

I have the same problem with finding homes, I've got 2 fish that are too big for my tank and one of them gets nippy sometimes. The petstore won't take them back, and I can't find anyone who wants them try posting in the buy/sell/swap section.

 

[baboo_jenge]

lol i doubt anyone will take chinese algae eaters.
They are like a dollar each.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

lol, I would take them if I had a big enough tank!