So, a little over a week ago, I made an addition of one small Albino Bristlenose Pleco to my tank of juvenile Black Mollies (and 1 adult) - and recently I've been observing a fascinating little game that they've been playing with each other:
The ABN has been going about his business, scooting around the glass and decorations, sucking off any algae that has been accumulating there. The interesting thing I've noticed is that when he's out and about on the glass - he's usually followed by a small party of the baby black mollies, just watching him very closely.
I watched this intently for a few minutes - and then realized what was going on.
Apparently, because the ABN is still a juvenile itself it isn't completely digesting all the algae it eats off the glass - which means that it's "excrement" is still fairly algae-rich. The Black Mollies, being algae connoisseurs themselves, discovered this fact and now the small party of baby mollies just float behind the ABN and wait for it to "poop algae" - and then they nibble it right off him before it even breaks away.
As far as I can tell, they don't actually nip at the ABN, and he doesn't seem to mind the constant "help" - I just found it a bit crazy.
The ABN has been going about his business, scooting around the glass and decorations, sucking off any algae that has been accumulating there. The interesting thing I've noticed is that when he's out and about on the glass - he's usually followed by a small party of the baby black mollies, just watching him very closely.
I watched this intently for a few minutes - and then realized what was going on.
Apparently, because the ABN is still a juvenile itself it isn't completely digesting all the algae it eats off the glass - which means that it's "excrement" is still fairly algae-rich. The Black Mollies, being algae connoisseurs themselves, discovered this fact and now the small party of baby mollies just float behind the ABN and wait for it to "poop algae" - and then they nibble it right off him before it even breaks away.
As far as I can tell, they don't actually nip at the ABN, and he doesn't seem to mind the constant "help" - I just found it a bit crazy.
