Good Algae Eater?

[rmanpf]

i heard plecos are good, should i get one? and what are suckerfish

 

[rmanpf]

NOBODY knows what a suckerfish is??? comun!

 

[shroob]

i heard plecos are good, should i get one? and what are suckerfish

NOOOOOOOOOO. Ultimate fail. Most who sell 'plecos' are selling common plecs, which grow HUGE and produce HUGE amounts of waste, totally unsuitable for the average tank. There are some 'plecs' however that are very well suited to tanks eg. BN plec for algea eating, along with lots more, but the fact is most shops who sell pleco's are selling the common or sailfin variety.

Suckerfish, I'm guessing are chinese algea eaters (if the shops sell plecos as plecs, then I'm guessing they mean CAE). They start off small and friendly, but can grow to 10" and be aggressive, attacking other fish and rasping away at their slime coats.

Generally, avoid both fish if you can.

 

[rmanpf]

i heard plecos are good, should i get one? and what are suckerfish

NOOOOOOOOOO. Ultimate fail. Most who sell 'plecos' are selling common plecs, which grow HUGE and produce HUGE amounts of waste, totally unsuitable for the average tank. There are some 'plecs' however that are very well suited to tanks eg. BN plec for algea eating, along with lots more, but the fact is most shops who sell pleco's are selling the common or sailfin variety.

Suckerfish, I'm guessing are chinese algea eaters (if the shops sell plecos as plecs, then I'm guessing they mean CAE). They start off small and friendly, but can grow to 10" and be aggressive, attacking other fish and rasping away at their slime coats.

Generally, avoid both fish if you can.

thanks ,youve been the most helpfull.

 

[luque]

for a 10gal i woud go for shrimp or ottos, also if you were to get ottos i would get 4 at the very least as mine are always together, and they defianatly cleaned up my tank very well

 

[rmanpf]

ok thanks

 

[Colin_T]

I agree with luque
Go for a small group of otocinclus catfish.

If you want to keep rainbows go for Melanotaenia praecox, papuae, sexlineata, maccullochi, nigrans & duboulayi as they are small species and will be fine in a 10g tank. Also you can try Pseudomugils, Iriatherina and Rhadinocentrus.

 

[indigoj]

I have praecox rainbows and would not keep them in a 10g. They are, like other rainbows, very active fish that need a lot of free swimming space.

I also would not get any plec as an algae eater - they all only eat it (if they eat it al all) as a secondary food to things like veggies, plec wafers and in some species, meatier foods.

 

[rmanpf]

ok, i bought a Pleco and dont worry, i have no algae problems yet, but i want to be ready when i do!