Algae eater questions!?

Question

I just have a couple questions about an algae eater I bought:

1. How can you tell which type it is? Mine has a black stripe down his body and he only grows to be about an inch long. I think he is a False Siamese algae eater, but I'm not sure. He looks kindof like this:

http://www.andras.net/images/siamese_algae_eater_6.jpg

2. How can you tell if an algae eater is pregnant? My algae eater is kindof fat, and I'm just wondering if she's pregnant?

3. Are algae eaters livebearers, or egglayers?

4. How do I care for algae eater babies/eggs!!!!???

Someone please answer!

Answer 1

To tell which kind you have just try to google up some images of algae eaters, or post a photo of your fish and a link here. There are several species that look very much like the one in the picture and it can be very difficult to tell them apart.

All of the fish in this group are egg layers and its also very hard to breed any of them in a home aquarium, so I wouldn't worry about that at all.

MM

Answer 2

very almost all plecos are algae eaters and could devour algae off stone. Are you feeding them algae wafers? while you're they may be ingesting the wafers and not algae. you ought to get some corys or SAE. they're little extra lively.

Answer 3

That looks like an otto. Ottos are egg layers but rarely breed in home aquariums.