great algae eater

[DepotFish]

My mom has had algae problems in her guppy tanks for years. Its very dark algae and most snails and fish we've tried either wouldn't touch it, or died soon after. A week ago she got a gold algae eater, Gyrinocheilos aymorieri I believe, and the algae is gone. It looks like she bought a new tank because its so clean. And the fish is still alive too. She had to buy algae wafers for it because everything is sparkling clean. Wish we'd have tried this fish much sooner.

 

[LandGhoti]

I have a golden algae eater as well, and he has done the same thing to my tank. Plus he's quite pretty too!

 

[jinmon]

Do these fish have issues sucking on slime coats of tankmates? Or is that only a problem if they're not fed supplemental algae?

 

[LandGhoti]

I have never seen mine do this. He keeps to himself and travels around the tank, taking care of the algae, and that is it.

 

[hc8719]

Do these fish have issues sucking on slime coats of tankmates? Or is that only a problem if they're not fed supplemental algae?

yes, more likely to happen on larger fish. chinese (golden) algae eaters can be mean too

 

[DepotFish]

Agreed, they love a good goldfish, but shouldn't be a problem with smaller or faster fish.

 

[shayfish]

Yes, I had one of these fish that used to harass it's tankmates. I have read that as they get older they are more likely to become aggressive, which my guy unfortunately did.

 

[jbarr]

Do these guys munch plants??

 

[LandGhoti]

Mine doesn't. He just sucks any algae off that might be on them. I had one before this one (got caught under driftwood and died ) and he was the same way, except he had more personality than the new one.

 

[ataylor]

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball, Chinese Algae Eater.htm\

Those fish get nasty once they get older, and quit algae as soon as they realize there are other foods in the tank.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Do these fish have issues sucking on slime coats of tankmates? Or is that only a problem if they're not fed supplemental algae?

When I was a beginner, my first tank (a 10g) had 4-5 Zebra danios and 2 Chinese Algae Eaters. One of the CAEs eventually tried to suck the slime coat off 2 of the danios. There were defined circular wounds on each of them, so I know it was the CAE. Since then, I don't care for them too much. But they are awesome algae eaters when they are young.

 

[Atl300zx]

mine stopped eating algae as well and the large one is a bully. i will be trying to get rid of him soon.

 

[tropicalfish]

Chinese Algae Eaters are the meanest ever... (in the "so called" community section of the pet store. What really annoyed me was that I heard someone ask the petco guy if the CAE were aggressive. The guy said, no, not at all!

 

[LandGhoti]

mine stopped eating algae as well and the large one is a bully. i will be trying to get rid of him soon.

As I see in the classifieds.

I have 2 algae eaters, one golden and one "plain" and both are (so far) quite harmless. But you all have me worried now... 8O