[JimmyRedman]

I have a problem and I am not sure how to fix it, or if anyone has heard of this. I have a golden algae eater, named windex haha, well he is about 3 inches right now and has recently become really aggresive. I have three yellow labs and 1 demasoni and he chases them all. Mostly the demasoni! The demasoni normally gets away, but I have seen him grab one of my labs. My labs are about the same size as him and the demasoni about 1 and 1/2 inches. I have read that they can hurt the fishes slime coat and even kill them. So is this something I should be really concerned about or should I just leave him in there, and the cichlids will eventually take charge?

Also I have noticed a few black spots on my labs head. They are really small and the fish seems to be very normal. I also read that this could just be stress. Any other thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

 

[JimmyRedman]

Also I make sure there is enough food for the algae eater. I give him algae wafers at night. So I dont think that is a problem.

 

[noki]

This is normal for them. When these "Algae Eaters", either green or orangish, start to get bigger they start to get more obnoxious and harass other fish. Don't know if they actually harm the other fish much

It might hold it's own in an Mbuna tank, but many hobbyists just find this fish to be an annoyance. Few people seem to have much affection for these "Chinese/Siamese Algae Eaters"

 

[Guest]

aye they're alright at first, but once they get big, they don't do much cleaning of the tank, and can become territorial, claiming a cave that would be a mbuna's home.

I've got one thats grown to 7inches, and I had to move him out of there. I'm not certain but I think he was getting to any fry before any other cichlids did, which is not a good thing if you're not expecting a batch of fry out of the blue. (this happened to me, the female was so secretive I forgot she was even in there!)

 

[css virginia]

This is normal for them. They like to grab some "fish slime" off the sides of the fish. They can be annoying at times to the fish-but have never seen any harm come to any fish.

 

[DJRansome]

I'd remove the fish. I've ready a lot about "algae eaters" harming and even killing fish by doing this.