Chinese Bottom Feeders

[franny7261]

I have a 15 gallon tank with 1" fish in it and a 2-3" Chinese Bottom Feeder. The other fish are Red Wag Platy, Zabra Danio and Dalmation Molly. Well a few days ago after there morning feeding I noticed one of my Zebra Danio was gone and so I searched the tank to see if it had died and it was floating or on the bottom or maybe hiding somewhere but no not to be found and it was there for last feeding. I even searched all around the tank and on the floor around the tank, very odd. Well last night I did my weekly cleaning and everyone was happy and healthy swimming around and this morning when I went to feed my Red Wag Platy was gone? again I searched the tank and under everything and all around the surrounding area, no where. Now my question is can a Chinese Bottom Feeder kill a healthy fish and devour it leaving no ruminates in an 8 hour period?
 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Yes, a CAE can and some will do this. This fish is sold as an algae eater, when in truth, it's diet is slime coat. (The babies will eat algae though, making for the perfect marketing. A cute, little algae eater)
 
They get big too, so if you'd like to keep this fish I'd try and get a 55g or more.

 

[Akasha72]

I've heard horror stories of a CAE eating an angelfish alive. They are horrible fish and if I could I'd add them to a 'banned' list.
 
Sorry to hear you're losing fish though

 

[franny7261]

I have a 30 gallon tank with this Plecostomus in it and my friend keeps telling me I need to graduate him up to a bigger tank what do you think. So if I was to do that do you think moving that Chinese Bottom Feeder into this tank with these bigger fish would be a better option? Would he survive and what could I feed him that would appease his appetite so he won't eat my other fish until I can find a bigger tank or should I just move him into a 10 gallon by himself? Another question I have a baby tank with fry's in it. What can I put in it as an algae eater that won't eat my fry's? Some are pretty tiny and they hide in the rocks even though I put lots of little things for them to hide in.

 

[franny7261]

Here is a better picture of the other fish in the 30 gallon tank. They just don't slow down when someone is close to the tank and my phone doesn't zoom that great. They all are around 3-4" long so they would be in the same rang length.

 

[Baccus]

A chinese Algea Eater will have a fine old time eating slime off your pleco's and because CAE's are territorial it will try to attack and bully them all over the tank. It seems once a CAE matures no tank is big enough territory for the nasty critters.
Bigger fish arent always the answer with these monsters since a bigger fish just means bigger sides of the body for the CAE to attach to and suck on the body slime.
Best option (rather than offloading onto another unspecting person) would be to keep the CAE in isolation for the remainder of its days, they dont even tolerate each other.

 

[franny7261]

So what is a good "safe" algae eater? I also need one for my fry tank too that won't eat my fry's what would be suggested?

 

[Munroco]

A group of otocynclus could be the answer, they certainly wont eat fry and I think they won't eat eggs either.
 
I'd be surprised if a chinese algae eater ate your fish, they don't have the mouth to do this. They feed through rasping algae and sometimes the coating from other fish. Do you have a filter in this tank, and is it possible your missing fish are in it?

 

[franny7261]

You were right it was in the HOB. Some how it managed to get into the tube but it will never happen again. This is a different HOB on this tank and when I changed it out I did not find the other fish and it was not that long ago it disappeared. I just moved the 25th of last month and I thought something would have been there. It was very unfortunate that I lost the ones I did.

 

[Akasha72]

the pleco looks like a common. He/she will reach 2 feet in length he needs a 6 foot tank at the very least. 
 
Safe algae eaters are Otocinclus (as Baccus suggested) many of the snail varieties too ... Zebra Nerites are fantastic algae eaters and won't touch fry, they'll also live in any type of water happily. Another great algae eating snails is the Apple snail but they need hard water or their shells rot. Another safe algae eater is the Siamese Algae Eater but these are often mislabelled and you could end up with a flying fox which can be just as nasty and territorial as the CAE so they need to come with a warning - they also grow HUGE ... not as big as a common pleco but they need a group as they are shoalers and so you'd need a tank of 4ft plus for a group of SAE's.
 
Stick with Oto's or snails to be safe. Oto's also need to be part of a group - 6 is a good number as they are also shoaling fish. The tank needs to be mature as they can starve to death if there isn't enough food to eat 

 

[franny7261]

My fry tank is a 15 gallon and has been up for 2 - 3 month but was up previously as a turtle tank for a friend who gave me the tank in a hurry when I found out I had fry's suddenly and was told to get them out of the adult tank immediately. It keeps growing algae and I keep scraping and cleaning of course but I was afraid to put anything in there because I didn't want them devoured. Thanks everyone for the information you all as always are great help. Oh and on the Oto's how many would I need for the group for this size of tank or should I just stay with the snails? I probably won't do the apple because our water is very soft. Another thing I have 6 fry's and they were all born at the same time most of them are small but there is one mammoth is that normal?

 

[Akasha72]

I have two zebra nerite snails in incredibly soft water (pH 6, kH 1) and their shells are fine. I've had two apple snails and they couldn't cope with the soft water and their shells became soft and flaky. I tried giving them calcium but it didn't help so if your water is the same then probably best going with nerites.
 
In a small tank (my calculations say 15 gal is around 56 litres so I'm guessing your about 2ft in size?) then 3-4 oto's but they do better in a larger group so maybe the snails are a better option.
 
See what the other guys think though

 

[LyraGuppi]

 Another thing I have 6 fry's and they were all born at the same time most of them are small but there is one mammoth is that normal?

It is likely the mammoth fry is stunting the other's growth with hormones released..try doing more water changes.
I'd try a couple nerite snails.

 

[Byron]

First issue is to ID the algae.  No "algae eating" fish or snails will eat every type.  Algae is caused by nutrients/organics in the presence of light (if green or red types) or low light (diatoms).  It is naturally going to be present in every healthy aquarium, but you can control it by controlling nutrients/organics and light.  Plants help, and with plants you simply need to find the balance between light intensity and nutrients.
 
Second issue is that I would not recommend any fish to eat algae in a fry tank.  For one thing, they add to the bioload and this is something you do not want if you are raising fry to be healthy fish.  And even a group of otos in a 15g is increasing the bioload a fair bit.
 
A final comment on the Chinese Algae Eater...get rid of it wherever you can.  Even in a large tank (= a 4-foot) this fish will almost inevitably be a nuisance.  It gets nastier as it matures, and usually takes a strong dislike to certain other fish.  It can kill other fish, not just eat their slime coat.
 
Byron.

 

[Munroco]

 
 
Second issue is that I would not recommend any fish to eat algae in a fry tank.  For one thing, they add to the bioload and this is something you do not want if you are raising fry to be healthy fish.  And even a group of otos in a 15g is increasing the bioload a fair bit.
 
Byron.

Is this a bad thing? Unless you have a lot of fry or are overfeeding them, the bacteria in the filters could die of without a reasonable bio load?