Chinese Algae Eaters

[stucolls]

after reading a few posts on them im now very worried about my loevly corys and baby mollies, the bvrown algae eater is nicknamed tyon becuase he seems a bully, the gold one (bought under name of gold sucking loach) seems peaceful and shy but id rather get rid of both if it saves my little friends?? I do have a gibbi also to clean up the algae.

any recommendations

 

[idlefingers]

You're overstocked anyway, so I say yes, get rid of them as it's aparently when they grow larger that they get more aggressive. Gibbiceps get waaay to big for a little 80ltr tank - 14" according to planetcatfish.com, so you'll need to re-home that as well or get a larger tank.

*Edit* Also, in answer to the question in your signature, a 500w heater is too big for a 80ltr tank. Though it will keep the water at the required temp, heaters are recommended for a particular tank size because they heat the water at a particular rate so as not to cause stress to the fish. A 500w heater would affect the water temp much more quickly than a smaller, say 150w heater.

 

[rdd1952]

General rule of thumb on filters is at least 5x the tank size and heaters is 3x the tank size. Some overkill is fine (up to 10x on the filter and 5x on the heater) but your heater is definitely more than you need. If the thermostat were happen to hang up (and it does happen as they get older), your fish fould be fried pretty quickly.

 

[merry78]

i would say get rid of your brown and gold algae eaters right now!! I just had to take mine back to the lfs as they were very rough on my fish. They are supposed to be peaceful as juveniles and then get worse as they get older, but mine were quite young and small (about 4-5cms) when they started trying to suck great holes in my fish .

edited to add- after you (hopefully) get rid of them and your gibbiceps, I would go for a Bristlenose to clean up your algae...they are smaller growing than most plecs and very peaceful, except if you keep two males together. They are quite happy alone, and if you run out of algae (or as a supplement to their diet before you run out of algae), will happily eat zucchini, cucumber, algae wafers etc. They are also quite beautiful and grow very quickly .

 

[stucolls]

So seeing as these algae eaters are so nasty and my gibbi is gonna get way too big, and I cant set my 5ft tank up until I move house (eventually) and have the right filter for it, and hood, can anyone make any recommendations on what my next fish should be? im planning on taking the algae eaters and the gibbi back to the store, and once my baby mollies are big enough im planning on offering them for exchange at the store, so come on, throw some ideas at me

 

[merry78]

I would also get rid of the shark, but i am biased!
It really depends on what you want your tank to look like, and what your local pH is. If you want a community of colourful fish, how about adding some platys or male guppies? Or if you want your tank and other fish to provide an accent to one feature fish, how about a dwarf or honey gourami, or if your tank is deep ( more than 45cms), how about an angel?

 

[stucolls]

I would also get rid of the shark, but i am biased!
It really depends on what you want your tank to look like, and what your local pH is. If you want a community of colourful fish, how about adding some platys or male guppies? Or if you want your tank and other fish to provide an accent to one feature fish, how about a dwarf or honey gourami, or if your tank is deep ( more than 45cms), how about an angel?

Its 19inches tall whatever that is in cm lol!!

I did think about guppies and platys, I was gonna get a few little tetras or white cloud minnows to fill it out so though an angel was out of question, I know sharky is gonna grow a fair bit but he was introduced pretty small and I think he feels a little bit below the corys and mollies as at mo they are bigger than him but if he starts getting aggressive I will think about sending him on holiday

 

[merry78]

is 'sending your shark on holiday' something like sending old yeller to the 'farm'?
sounds like you are tending more towards a colourful community tank then, and this will give you more freedom on choice in your fish anyway. What about spending a weekend checking out lfs's for ideas, then shortlist your favourites and let experienced people here like fishkies, miss wiggle and many others tell you how they think those fish would go for you? If i was stocking a tank right now thats what i'd do. Also pinned somewhere there's a list of community fish suitable for a 10 gal tank. You could take this as a framework, and then just add a few more, or understock for the time being to allow for future molly babies.