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I have a slight algae problem in my tank and I think an algae eater would be nice. The wood's developing a film that is no longer pleasant to watch and I cant reach the back of my aquarium wall so only some of it is cleaned every week.

We dont get different kind of plecos in India, so those are out. Ottos also dont come by easily. A common plec would be too large for my 79 gallon tank.

Somebody's selling a royal whiptail catfish for a very dear price, but I would be willing to get it if it will do a good job.

Please help!

Bristle nose plec? Theyre small and not too much trouble, and though they produce a fair amount of waste they do a pretty thorough job. I have a half grown one that scoured a 120 gal tank in 3 weeks. He cleans algae so hard, it takes ages to re-establish. Short of a group of ottos I dont think he can be beaten!

Your not suffering hair algae or anything so no need to turn to siamese flying foxes or anything, and chinese algae eaters can be a pain. For your situation, if you have decent filtration, and do your water changes regularly a bristle nose might be hard to beat. Be prepared for a lot of waste in the first 48 hours if there is a lot of algae though.

BN would be good, you could even have a pair in a 79g. Clown plecs aren't very large either and would appreciate the wood I've kept a BN and clown together in a 30g without any problems as well.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Oh, that's where all my problems begin. We only get common plecs in India so I cant go and get me a BN. Cories dont do very well in the warm weather either, so those are out. Cannot even find ottos

What other fishes are in this aquarium?

Only that will have an impact upon your choice.

If your aquarium is full of fairly chunky and boisterous fishes, then a Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis) would fit the bill nicely. This fish will utterly NUKE your algae - as the two I bought in 1999 for my aquarium did.

A more unusual choice for an aquarium with smaller and more peaceful fishes that might be unduly disturbed by the antics of a Siamese Algae Eater is one of the Limia species of livebearer - they're excellent algae eaters and were used as algae control fishes here in the UK before the advent of the Bristlenose Plecs.

A similar unusual choice would be the American Flag Fish, Jordanella floridae, a small but robust fish that Joe Potato described as "going through algae like a combine harvester". However you would have to check such issues as water chemistry compatibility and the ease of integration with your existing fishes.

In the meantime, fingers crossed that you find a decent selection of smaller herbivorous Plecs in the near future.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

The tank has some 20+ clown loaches that are going to move to a 150 gallon sometime in december since I finally managed to buy a bigger house to accomodate my hobby.

I was under the impression that siamese algae eaters get large. Obviously, the tank has no plants since my clowns love to shred anything green and leaf like, real or plastic.

SAEs hit 6 inches. If you're buying a 150 gallon for Clown Loaches, a trio of SAEs will fit in there no problem and probably love you for indulging them with such luxurious quarters. They're fishes that will live in a 55 happily. They're boisterous, but the rough and tumble is mostly with each other and mostly the playful sort. So if you're housing Clown Loaches in a 150, along with other fishes that grow big and need a 150, SAEs will probably end up being the smallest fishes in that tank even when fully grown, assuming your other fishes are of a similar size to the Clown Loaches (e.g., Demspeys, certain big Characins such as Leporinus, Denison's Barbs or Barbs bigger than these). Since you have Denison's Barbs, the SAEs will probably end up around the same adult size.

If the algae infested aquarium is something like a 29 gallon, you can still put some juvenile SAEs in there, let them nuke the algae, then transfer them to the bigger aquarium and keep them on hand in case you ever get a bad algal infestation in another aquarium. One thing's for sure, if the rate at which the ones I bought nuked algae in my Panda Fun Palace in 1999 is anything to go by, you will NEVER have an algal infestation problem in ANY aquarium that they occupy. They'll destroy it on sight.

For smaller aquaria, the Florida Flag Fish are likely to be a good option. In fact, I'm on the lookout for either of those two species at the moment for my own algal woes.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I think I can get my hands on some SAEs, that's doable and they arent very expensive either.

I was staying away from them coz I heard they stick to the bodies of fish and suck at the mucus, or are those CAEs?

The one which suck the body slime out of the other fish are CAE, not SAE.

SAE could be boisterous among themselves at times, but they're not aggressive to the other species.