Re: aggressive chinese algae eater?

[Jody Pellerin]

I have a chinese algae eater myself, I orignally bought two and then read
posts about them here and since, have been even more untolerable of them. So
I was some what relieved when one died the other day. They seem to be more
hectic then beneficial from the posts I've read here. I would put it in the
semi agressive tank and see how the two hurt dish do for a week or two. How
big is the algae eater? I read somewhere here that when they get bigger,
they like sucking the slime off the sides of fish.

"Lydia" > wrote in message
...
I have a 20 gal. "peaceful" community tank and a 10 gal "semi-aggressive"
tank. The 20 gallon has 3 dwarf guoramis, 2 white clouds, 3 lamp eye
tetras, 2 coreys, 2 rosy barbs, 1 upside down catfish, and 1 albino chinese
algae eater - all of which were labeled as community when purchased. The 10
gallon has 2 regular size guoramis, 1 "headstand fish", and 2 tiger barbs -
all of which were labeled as semi-aggressive when purchased.

I'm concerned that the chinese algae eater is too aggressive for the tank
it's in. The 2 coreys in the same tank that used to be beautifully heathy -
a few months after introducing the algae eater - were missing their dorsal
fins and they both have a small - about 1/8 inch diameter white circlular
spot on their left side of the dorsal fin. It's not puffy or stringy...
rather, looks like a sore right on the body. And as I watch the tank I see
the algae eater zipping around chasing and pestering other fish. The coreys
have taken to wedging themselves into places that make it harder to be
picked on, but the algae eater still occasionally chases them out and the
re-wedge themselves elsewhere. That seems to be working for them 'cause it
looks like their dorsal fins are growing back (is that possilble - totally
amazed me).

I've never actually seen the algae eater actually stay stuck to another fish
and I don't want to punish the wrong fish by moving it to the
semi-aggressive tank, but you're opinions? Given the fish I have in each
tank do you think there might be another culprit (or even disease although
if so why don't any of the other fish have the symptoms and why do both
coreys have the white spot in the same place on their bodies) OR would it be
better for the chinese algae eater to reside in the semi-aggressive tank?

Thanks very much from a fairly new enthusiat for your help :)
Lydia




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[WD]

"Lydia" > wrote in message
...
> coreys have the white spot in the same place on their bodies) OR would it
be
> better for the chinese algae eater to reside in the semi-aggressive tank?
>
> Thanks very much from a fairly new enthusiat for your help :)
> Lydia
>
>

This is fairly common. CAE's are not considered a good choice among
aquarists for algae control. Moving it to the semi-agressive tank may work,
but I'd still keep an eye on him.
Your other choices for algae control are pl*costomous, (consider bushy
or bristlenose pl*co's, they stay pretty small) or Siamese Algae eaters.
Research SAE's before purchace, they are one of the most mis-identified fish
on the market, but they do a great job in my tanks.

[fisherman]

"WD" > wrote in message news:<SxHQa.62409$N7.7525@sccrnsc03>...
> Your other choices for algae control are pl*costomous, (consider bushy
> or bristlenose pl*co's, they stay pretty small) or Siamese Algae eaters.
> Research SAE's before purchace, they are one of the most mis-identified fish
> on the market, but they do a great job in my tanks.

This is a good link for doing that research on SAEs -
http://www.bettastarz.com/sae.htm

When I originally went in search of SAEs, I couldn't find them for
love or money. My favorite lfs recommended flying foxes instead and I
now have eight of them in four different tanks. They do a great job
on the algae, are very active, seldom develop a taste for fish slime
like the CAEs do, and are relatively attractive. In short, I've been
very pleased and would absolutely recommend the foxes. One word of
caution, you want to get one or three (or more if you have the room)
for a tank. If you only have two in a tank, they tend to get
territorial with each other. I've never seen them show the slightest
aggression toward any other fish.

Good luck!!

[Lydia]

Thank you so much for all the great help!

Chinese Algae Eater (it's about 2 inches long, Jody) is moving tonight and
I'll look into a different option for algae control in the bigger tank.

Thanks again,
Lydia

[Jak Crow]

On 15 Jul 2003 00:18:12 -0700, (fisherman)
wrote:

>This is a good link for doing that research on SAEs -
>http://www.bettastarz.com/sae.htm
>
>When I originally went in search of SAEs, I couldn't find them for
>love or money. My favorite lfs recommended flying foxes instead and I
>now have eight of them in four different tanks. They do a great job
>on the algae, are very active, seldom develop a taste for fish slime
>like the CAEs do, and are relatively attractive. In short, I've been
>very pleased and would absolutely recommend the foxes. One word of
>caution, you want to get one or three (or more if you have the room)
>for a tank. If you only have two in a tank, they tend to get
>territorial with each other. I've never seen them show the slightest
>aggression toward any other fish.

Heh. My attempts to aquire SAEs first resulted in 2 fake siamesis and
a garra that didn't seem to do much for the algae. I eventually got a
hold of 4 real SAEs, and the strange thing is since I've had them, the
fakes and the garra are now eating algae more often. It's pretty
interesting.