Just wondering if it would be possibe to keep a sailfin pleco with my demasoni and yellow labs , cause I havr been told they aye excellent at keeping aquarium glass free from any algae If not could anyone suggest any fish that would be
Algae cleaner
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Sae are hardy. I have one in my African tank.
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I have a gold nugget in my mbuna tank and he is about worthless when it comes to cleaning the glass but my blue phantom in my other tank does a great job and is very cool and the best part is hes out alot during the day which is alot different then most plecos. If ur looking for a clean tank i would strongly recommend them.
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If you get a bristlenose make sure you get one of size....at least one that can protect himself from your other fish. I was sold one that was on the small size, barely over an inch long, and he was picked on and eaten within a week.
This may be common sense, but I was a beginner and didn't know any better. I just bought a standard pleco today that is of medium size. Actually he is bigger than anything else in there. The store I went to today recommended always introducing a pleco along with other fish so the existing fish knows he belongs and don't pick on him.
Good luck!
This may be common sense, but I was a beginner and didn't know any better. I just bought a standard pleco today that is of medium size. Actually he is bigger than anything else in there. The store I went to today recommended always introducing a pleco along with other fish so the existing fish knows he belongs and don't pick on him.
Good luck!
G
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·gold nuggets die.. pretty to look at.. garbage to buy.... i had a high fin pleco in with my africans and he did just fine.. granted he was huge like 6 inchs... now in with my plecos i have a small bristlenose 2inch.. an albino bristlenose 3.5 inch and an brown spotted orange seamed pleco 3 inch and they all do just fine... my africans could care less about them or the catfish or the botias
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I got talked out of a pleco and into a chinese algae eater actually. I had a bushynose about 8 inches long and my kenyi killed him. *** had the chinese algae eater for a few months now and he eats way more algae than a pleco and hes way more active, quicker and tougher. Hes about 4 inches and bullies my big male sometimes, he doesnt take any ****.
G
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·hate to break the bad news to you but chinese algae eaters would much rather eat the actual food than the algae.. i also have a blue phantom in my tropical community tank dont really see him sucking on the glass much thou.... the royal plecos seem to eat a decent amount of algae but i had one in my high ph with the africans and it died.. got one in with my ca now and it seems fine... i hear rainbow sharks eat more algae than plecos do anyways... or get some snails... although the high ph would probly kill them.. i put a pleco and 4 big snails in my goldfish tank that was overrun with algae and its almost all gone now
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I put a few zebra neriite snails in 3 of my tanks, and the glass is always clean in those tanks.
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I have to agree with NewNoise21 here. I have used Chinese Algae Eaters for algae cleaning for several years in my big tank without problems. The trick is to get a small one around 2 inches or so which can be found at almost any LFS for under a buck. I just give it back to the LFS when it appears to be growing large and mean and get a new small one. Mine spends the entire day roving around like a little Hoover vacuum cleaner, keeping all my rocks completely algae free and never interacting with the cichlids or catfish. Granted, I only need one to keep an entire 6' tank clear of algae. In a smaller tank, there may not be enough algae growth to keep a CAE fed and they end up going after other fishes' slime coats.
BN plecos aren't bad, either. I have a couple albino ones in another tank. They tend to get quickly killed and eaten by cichlids in my experience, however. It might help to get a normal BN instead of an albino, as the dark coloration won't attract as much attention from curious cichlids.
BN plecos aren't bad, either. I have a couple albino ones in another tank. They tend to get quickly killed and eaten by cichlids in my experience, however. It might help to get a normal BN instead of an albino, as the dark coloration won't attract as much attention from curious cichlids.
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I have a 4" bristlenose in my tank, and she does a great job of cleaning the algae up. Just make sure that if you get one its of fair size otherwise your cichlids will slowly but surely kill it off.
How big of a tank is he going in and what size can you get the sailfin's?
The sailfin's are a beautiful fish but grow quite large. A 2-3" juvi will be 6"+ in 8-12 months. My favorite in a large aquarium. Especially when they are cheap money. They are fantastic algae eaters and are active even when full size at roughly 20" for a male. Sailfins are also quite tough as pleco's go and the African's seem to leave them alone.
If you go the Ancistris route, make sure they are 3-4" at the very least if your main fish are still young. And make some caves that are tight so they can get away from the turbulance
Steve
The sailfin's are a beautiful fish but grow quite large. A 2-3" juvi will be 6"+ in 8-12 months. My favorite in a large aquarium. Especially when they are cheap money. They are fantastic algae eaters and are active even when full size at roughly 20" for a male. Sailfins are also quite tough as pleco's go and the African's seem to leave them alone.
If you go the Ancistris route, make sure they are 3-4" at the very least if your main fish are still young. And make some caves that are tight so they can get away from the turbulance
Steve
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