Rent a Fish

[tkos]

So I will be moving soon and be very close to my parents. At the moment I have a 10 gallon tank with lots of plants and for some reason a little too much hair algae. I think there might be high nitrate levels so I am trying to combat that theory at the moment (I don't have a nitrate test kits yet). I was thinking of moving a temp fish into the tank to munch down on the yummy hair algae so that I don't have to keep cutting leaves off of my nice plants. The fish I have available are: 1 honey gourami, 1 chocolate gourami, 1 medium flying fox, platies.

1. Are any of these guys up to the task?

2. Would moving them into a 10 gallon with cories and white clouds (I can raise the temp a bit for a short time) cause major issues?

3. Does all that moving back and forth between tanks make for a stressed fish?


Ottos aren't possible as the fish stores don't like to carry them unless I special order them and due to their high death rate I don't want to special order fish that might not live out the week.

Thanks

 

[madasafish]

You've got one of the generally-recommended algae eaters in your quiver there... Flying foxes are commonly used to dispose of algae.

However, it sounds like you might be overstocked or underfiltered/undervac-ed if your plants cannot uptake the excess levels of nitrogenous waste in your tank, and if hair algae is forming as a result (oi, happens to us all... ). Do buy yourself a test kit to check your water parameters. My guess is that they are a little high, but not hugely so.

I'm guessing that the "medium" flying fox is about 3 inches in length? This will add a fair amount more biomass to your tank, so consider this when adding him/her... also, flying foxes are said to defend their territory quite aggressively in small spaces...

Of course the moving will stress the fish... Do it in one fell-swoop if you can. Where is the fox at the moment??

 

[tkos]

Well it will be a month before the tanks are close enough for the move. But I will be able to do it in a matter of minutes so doing it quickly won't be a problem. I will probably bag him and float the bag as there will be a bit of a temp difference.

I am only assuming the nitrates are too high because I don't add too much fertilizer and the wattage of light is 2.6 watts for 10 hours. So I have begun extra water changes for awhile trying to see if I can get it down. I will ask for the test kit for xmas.

The medium fox is about 3 inches. My tank has 5 white clouds and 3 cories at the moment, and the fox will be a temp measure to try and reuce the algae that is present. If it doesn't work out in a short period of time I will just move him back.

I have noticed that my platy only tank has only the tiniest amount of algae so I was figuring they might be a good source of alage remova, and I have 4 5 month olds that will be needing to move out of their home soon. I thought they might like a stop over til I can find them something better.

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, I've heard that platies may reduce hair algae, but's it's a claim I've never had backed up for me...