Alge Eater

[chucksmo]

I am new to the forum and need help. I have a 20 gal. tank w/ some plant life. my ? is I have a mollie and guppie that are prego. my small alge eater is now starting to chase them. will this be a problem? do I need to isolate the alge eater or what. I don't want to spook my fish, I would like to have some fry. any help would be great.

 

[rdd1952]

You didn't mention the type of algae eater you have but since it is chasing the others I will say it is most likely a chinese algae eater. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If it is, then that is the norm. As they get older and larger, they become very aggressive, stop eating algae (generally don't eat a lot anyway) and begin to harass slower moving, flat-bodied fish and try to suck the slime coat off them. If it is a CAE, I would return him to the store. They are really bad fish and it would be great if the fish stores stopped selling them but that won't ever happen.

 

[*Fishkies*]

More then likely you have a Chinese Algae Eater. As these guys get bigger, the start to get more territorial. If you can isolate him and keep him separate from them for good. You could put him in a tank with zebra danio's as they are fast enough to stay away from him. But if you cannot put him in a separate tank. I would try to rehome him to the best of your abilities. My boyfriend and I both have one of these guys and are both having problems with them. They just all of a sudden one day turned on the fish. They were a great cleaner but as they got bigger they got aggressive.

Good Luck

 

[chucksmo]

Thank you for the input. It is in fact a Chinese Algae Eater. I can't put it anywhere else. I will try to see if I can take him back to the place I bought him, maybe they will give store credit or something. Thank you.

 

[loachman]

Pretty normal with a Chinese algae eater. It's a shame that they're so universally stocked and sold as algae eaters (as bad as selling clown loaches as snail control for 20gal communities). They're really horrible fish IME. Mine hid all the time except to quabble with the yoyos over territory. There are alot of better algae eaters... for about the same price even.

Ottos are wonderful and alot more interesting. Much more active IME and peaceful.

Bristlenoses are "ugly" but so far I'm liking mine alot better than I ever did my CAE. They win purely on the oddity factor.

 

[chucksmo]

So I took my alge guy back and they were happy to refund my money. I will wait a month or so before getting anything new as I have lost one molly and two guppies to ick and the molly had velvet that me and my wife didn't catch in time. I now have to go to the lfs to get some meds so my other guppies and molly don't get ill. I am also going to do 50% water change today. my nitrate went past 50 at lunch when I tested. I think my 2 year old daughter is spooking them as well. so stress will be worse on them. thank you for your replies.

 

[rdd1952]

50 ppm isn't bad for nitrates. A lot of people have 40 ppm in their tap water. As long as you keep it under 80 or so, you will be fine. Try to keep your water changes in the 20 to 25 percent range unless you are trying to lower ammonia or nitrite. It causes less problems with things like pH swings and temperature swings.