I have a 6-gallon fish tank at work, with 5 gold barbs in it. They have eaten two plecostomuses so far, over weekends when the office temperature got up to 90 degrees or so (on two separate occasions). I had left the light on in the tank, so I think perhaps the plecostomuses couldn't handle the heat, died, and the gold barbs ate them. Either that or the barbs got too hungry.
Now I have algae growing in the tank, and wonder if there is any algae eater hardier than a plecostomus that I could get to solve that problem. It's cooler now, and the office temperature shouldn't be an issue on the weekends (I also learned to turn the tank light off when I leave each day, which should help).
Would the tank be too crowded if I got a larger plecostomus? (The gold barbs are about 1 1/2" to 2" long now.) Should I try again with a small one, now that heat should no longer be a problem?
Are there any other alternatives?
2006-09-22 14:31:44 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Your algae won't be a problem now that you have decided to turn off the lights more often. Try a couple of live plants to out-compete the algae, use bottled spring water instead of tap water for water changes (tap water can contain phosphates which feed algae), and buy a pair of snails which won't add a large bio-load to your tank.
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2006-09-22 15:30:05 · answer #1 · answered by iceni 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We had a fish tank with several tiger barbs, an algae eater and a plecostomus. The tiger barbs are gone now...the last one died the other day of old age, I think. I'm not sure how long they live, but we had them for several years. Our plecostomus is about 4 inches long. he rarely comes out of his hiding place during the day. We have a shark that is about 6 inches long, 2 gouramis that are about 3 inches long and an angel fish that is about 3.5 inches long. We have a 30 gal. tank.
2006-09-22 21:58:19 · answer #2 · answered by dbarnes3 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your tank is already overcrowded and you should not add any more fish. General rule of thumb for stocking an aquarium is 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water.
2006-09-23 09:45:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
snails,catfish,2 larger gold fish,plecostomus a larger one.get u live plants
2006-09-22 22:17:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you tried a snail? They can help keep the algae under control.
2006-09-22 21:35:06 · answer #5 · answered by AngG 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋