Chinese Algae Eaters

[RandomWiktor]

So, whenever I am on fish forums, I see people who are having trouble with Chinese Algae Eaters attacking thier other fish. The general advice is typically to return them to the store, but I remember one store in PA that won't take them back after a certain size since they are equally troublesome in the store. Since some seem to show no agression until an older age, it makes me wonder what people do with them when they become large, agressive, messy, and kindof useless at cleaning algae.
I happen to love Chinese Algae Eaters. I have one right now who is unfortunately very ill, and it has been absolutely breaking my heart. I think what makes me sadder, however, is the fact that most CAEs do not get to enjoy the kind of life other aquarium fish do since they've become something of a pariah. So, it brought me to wonder how many of these poor guys are out there just getting neglected or returned to stores, or worse still - culled.
If you had to get rid of your CAE, and you knew there was an actual place that would take them in and give them a proper home, would you send or drive them there? I'm wondering because I have a ton of empty tanks of a suitable size for CAEs, plus they're not much to look at so I'm sure a 30gallon plastic tote with a filter and heater would be fine. I'm not in a position to do it now, but some time down the road, I'd love to have a sort of mini sanctuary for unwanted CAEs.

 

[Bloo]

I still have mine in my community tank. I am very well aware of the potential risks and also the size these fish can attain. (touch wood) I have not had any territorial issues or signs of aggression in the past 3 years.
If it becomes a problem, I will home it in a seperate tank

Edit: that said, I will probably never buy another. Even though they are interesting, curious characters.

 

[millym]

we made the common mistake of getting a cae when we started off..our own fault for not researching properly ( we now know better!!!)
sadly had to rehome it when it got to about 2 & 1/2 inches as it started terrorizing our corys (& other fish) who he really seemed to hate morning noon & night.
shame cos we liked the fish and wasnt his fault he was doing what came naturally to him but we just couldnt get another tank at that stage.
we definately would have driven somewhere else to give ours a good home.
have to say he was a b****r to catch..ended up resorting to the old bottle trap trick..took a while but got him in the end

 

[morgan]

Hi, my husband bought me 2 CAE's (without asking!) when I was new to fishkeeping. They did not have the chance to get big as I had a tank disaster and all my fish died except my Mollies, Platies and Guppies. If they had lived to be a nuisance I would have bought another tank to put them in on their own. I didn't vote in your poll as there wasn't an option for what happened to my fish as it was quite unusual. To be honest I didn't like them but I would have looked after them until they died naturally. PS Have now voted "other".

 

[kramers]

To date, I haven't had any real problems with either of my 2 CAE's. "Booger", my oldest one was raised from about 1" or so and is now about 5-5.5". Every so often we wil notice him chasing one of the other fish away from his cave, which is a castle. The other one"Goody" was gotten about the same size and is now about 3.5". He on the other hand is just a little bit more, not much, aggressive. For the most part though they each live pretty peacefully with the other tankmates.

 

[dwarfgourami]

One of mine jumped ship. I trod on him the next morning getting out of bed- not one of my happier fishkeeping memories. Can't remember what happened to the other one, think we gave him away with the rest of the fish when we gave up fishkeeping.

And what would I do in a similar situation now? Meaning if I had had no previous experience but had now as an adult been tricked into buying a cute little algae eater. Hard to tell. On the one hand, I would feel responsible for the fish, which would mean getting a new, separate tank etc. On the other hand, I would consider it my duty to make life as hard as possible for the lfs, to encourage them to sell fewer of these non-community fish. And going back to them to get a bigger tank would hardly do that. So I would probably take him back, in a sort of be-cruel-to-be-kind bid, to save others from being imported and mis-sold.

But all the same, I do admire the way you are looking after yours, Random- I really do hope he takes a turn for the better soon. All best wishes!

 

[k17sty]

We have 2 albinos, they seem fine so far . . . only having little niggles between themselfs. When they do get too big and start their face hugging carry on the will be shiped back to the LFS. If and when i can catch them