Central American Cichlids • Very Aggressive Jack Dempsey needs an algae eater

[Taybybaby]

Hello!
I have a 1 year old, extremely aggressive jack dempsey cichlid, hes such a beauty and I love him to death! I've had him since he was very very tiny and even as a young jack he tried to kill anything and everything that he could. But i had to keep the algae down so i bought a small algea eater when i bought him and he killed it. later, i bought a very large algae eater and once again, he killed it. about 3 months back, i took advice from a local cichlid breeder and bought 4 apple snails and just as i thought i had a solution, i uncovered 3 apple snail bodies today in his cave he doesnt eat what he kills, he just likes to kill them. the green algae in his tank is becoming a huge hastle, it doesnt come off no matter what i try and its growing and growing every day. HE NEEDS SOME FORM OF AN ALGAE EATER.. BAD. a local fish store suggested a synodontis catfish? but idk what to trust. any advice? please?

THANK YOU,
Taybra<3

[montellp]

How big is the tank

[catfish crazy joe]

I would try nerite snails. They may not be noticed as easily as the apple snails. I have nerite snails in my tank and they keep it spotless, though my tank doesn't have any agressive fish.

[Taybybaby]

my tank is 45gal but within the next few months im going to get a bigger tank.

[metricliman]

Synodontis catfish do not eat algae and they are from Lake Tanganyika in Africa. If he kills everything, why not just use coppersafe and kill the algae or limit the amount of light that is in the tank. Maybe you can add some fast growing plants that will compete with the algae for nutrients.

[defbored_usd]

As it was already said, limit the light in the tank.

Just scrub the algae off. Takes all of five minutes to do.

[OneFishTwoFish]

I'll second that synodontis catfish don't eat algae but its not true that all synos come from Tanganyika. About 1/4 of all African catfish are some syno species.

As for your question, could you set up a partition to create a safe zone for a pleco to go to work on? You could move the partition around to get other areas cleaned. Just a thought.

Mike