Do algae eaters and community mix well in the same tank? what are good fish to own?

Question

i don't want cheap, yet i don' want expensive. i feel quilty for accidentally killing 40+ molly fish. i know i'm going to hell. my son is maiking it worse b/c he doesn't see the fish.

Answer 1

I agree with mm, if you mean Chinese algae eaters then no. I got one for my 29 gallon at a cute size on 2 inches. With in a few months my neons were missing and he was chasing my fish. I eventually had to find him a home and he is now happily in a 40 or 55 gallon tank. If you want some algae eaters go for corydoras catfish, smaller plecos, or otocinclus. There are a lot of different species of corydoras, they grow to be between 1-5." The most common are peppered, bronze, panda, juhli. They all range from 2-3" each. Cory cats are a very hardy species of fish. Cories are intolerant of aquarium salt in their water and should be kept in shoals of at least 4 of the same species. A smaller type of pleco is the pretty peckoltia (spelling may be off) The grow to be about 2.5" and do a pretty nice job eating algae. Otocinclus grow to be about 1.5" and should only be put in a tank running for at least 6+ months with lots of algae. Basically you can keep any tropical community fish with the listed algea eaters, but they are better kept with peaceful fish.

Answer 2

Don't feel bad...I've messed up twice and i've killed about $700 worth of fish in 2 weeks because I didn't know what I was doing, never owned fish before, and didn't have any help. You should figure out what went wrong last time and correct it. Make sure the tank cycles. There are sites that will tell you what fish mix well. Aquariumfish.net is where I bought mine, it has information on each fish, what it takes to take care of the fish, and what fish you can mix with it. I prefer guppies, they come in a huge variety of colors, they're very pretty, and they breed quickly. I'm fairly sure that the common algae eaters do not pose a threat to other fish. I've never had an aggressive one.

I didn't know that about chinese algae eaters...although i've never seen one. The kind I had...the scientific name was "Hypostomus punctatus" and I'm fairly sure it was called "common pleco" They're very calm.

Answer 3

If you mean Chinese algae eaters, don't do it. These guys are ok as very small fish, but as soon as they get some size on them they stop eating algae and become quite territorial and hostile towards the other fish in the tank. Nasty fish to have in a community tank.

MM

Answer 4

i am not really big on keeping "bottom feeders" -- you can clean the bottom a lot better with a gravel vacuum once a week. i like bamboo shrimp -- or filter shrimp. they are kind of pricey but fun to watch them filter stuff out of the water.

a better algae eater is a live plant that will use the nutrients in the water to grow and then algae won't grow.

rainbows are really nice -- about 10 bucks a piece -- some gouramis are great and usually cheap too. you can usually get a pair of pearl gouramis for about 5 dollars.

in general you have to match your fish to your tank. a small tank means fish that stay small.