tangeriiine
Fish Fanatic
ive just found out that i have a chinese algae eater in my commuity tank we havent had it long and didnt know wot it was....should i get rid of it? Ive herd there not very nice. wot should i do?
Yikes!!!
- Thread starter tangeriiine
- Start date
The April FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
Incitic
Fish Crazy
Re-home it, sell it? From what I've read they're not the type of fish you put in a community.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Cavafish
Fishaholic
I recently bought 6 of them. THEN I found out with some help from the good people on here that they are a nuisance so I took them back to the LFS. The reasons they are sometimes not good as far as I have gathered are:
1) They eat loads of algae when young but when older (2-3"?) they go off eating algae and you need to feed them as you would other fish.
2) When young they are cute and endearing and zip about all over the place keeping themselves amused. When older they get aggressive towards their own kind and other similar fish (flying foxes, corys, etc) and become very territorial.
3) When older, they can take to attaching themselves to the side of other flat sided, slow moving fish such as angels, gouramis and discus and will suck the slime coat off of the fish. Considerable damage is done to the 'victim' and great stress is cased. Remember, the loach can suck on hard enough to hold its own body weight up and the 'victim' fish has no means of pulling it off.........
4) They are known to eat the eyes of other fish. Apparently cories are most often victims of this.
So I hence I took mine back ASAP. I think if you just have one and chose the other inhabitants with care you may have a good fish.......
If I'm wrong about any of this I'm sure someone will set the record straight. Ask at your LFS - as you already have the fish they may give you proper balanced advice.
1) They eat loads of algae when young but when older (2-3"?) they go off eating algae and you need to feed them as you would other fish.
2) When young they are cute and endearing and zip about all over the place keeping themselves amused. When older they get aggressive towards their own kind and other similar fish (flying foxes, corys, etc) and become very territorial.
3) When older, they can take to attaching themselves to the side of other flat sided, slow moving fish such as angels, gouramis and discus and will suck the slime coat off of the fish. Considerable damage is done to the 'victim' and great stress is cased. Remember, the loach can suck on hard enough to hold its own body weight up and the 'victim' fish has no means of pulling it off.........
4) They are known to eat the eyes of other fish. Apparently cories are most often victims of this.
So I hence I took mine back ASAP. I think if you just have one and chose the other inhabitants with care you may have a good fish.......
If I'm wrong about any of this I'm sure someone will set the record straight. Ask at your LFS - as you already have the fish they may give you proper balanced advice.
Cossack1977
Fish Crazy
i had 2 in my tank before i knew what they were. they were giving all my other fish a real headache. i got rid of them. i suggest you do as well. mine were a real pain to catch. had to strip my whole tank down
good luck
good luck
Nina7777
Fish Herder
Although all of what everyone is saying can be true in most circumstances, I have to disagree from banning them all together.
I had two in my 30 gallon along with a convict cichlid, 2 baby bala sharks, a red eye tetra, and a platy for about a year. Although they did stop eating algae, I kept them well fed with a variety of food and there was never any aggression towards my other fish. While one of them grew to be a monster 7+" the other one stayed rather small (4"). They really were the best of friends and never fought eachother. They even shared the same log as their home.
I must say they were definately my two fave fish in the tank. unfortunately they had an early demise, as my niece accidentially dumped a bunch of salt in the tank, and I couldn't save them in time.
I have been wanting to get two more But i can't find any that are big enough! The only ones I find are under and inch long.
So all in all if you keep them well fed they can be very ammusing and peaceful wonderful fish.
I had two in my 30 gallon along with a convict cichlid, 2 baby bala sharks, a red eye tetra, and a platy for about a year. Although they did stop eating algae, I kept them well fed with a variety of food and there was never any aggression towards my other fish. While one of them grew to be a monster 7+" the other one stayed rather small (4"). They really were the best of friends and never fought eachother. They even shared the same log as their home.
I must say they were definately my two fave fish in the tank. unfortunately they had an early demise, as my niece accidentially dumped a bunch of salt in the tank, and I couldn't save them in time.
I have been wanting to get two more But i can't find any that are big enough! The only ones I find are under and inch long.
So all in all if you keep them well fed they can be very ammusing and peaceful wonderful fish.
Cavafish
Fishaholic
Thats good to hear Nina cos I was really wondering why they are sold at all.
I had the same trouble as you Cossack with catching them - took 6 hours in total and the tank was destroyed in the process. Nightmare. In the end a two-netted tactic was employed and I found a bigger net than their size is neded as they move so fast.
Your tank looks AMAZING - wot a shame it was all disrupted.
I had the same trouble as you Cossack with catching them - took 6 hours in total and the tank was destroyed in the process. Nightmare. In the end a two-netted tactic was employed and I found a bigger net than their size is neded as they move so fast.
Your tank looks AMAZING - wot a shame it was all disrupted.
tangeriiine
Fish Fanatic
are they really that bad then...becos i dont want it to kill any of my other fish?
Most reactions
-
253 -
245 -
151 -
143 -
140 -
136 -
108 -
108 -
93 -
89 -
85 -
82 -
78 -
67 -
62
