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Hi went and checked out your fish profiles and saw for the BN Plec the one with .sp after the latin name that they can go down to 15C. Although my fancy fish tank is not that low it is run at around 21C is this way too cold. If so is there another algae eater that I should consider. The Chinese ones seem very aggressive, and I am not into snails.

Any one any thoughts.

I think the ideal temperatures are 23-28 Celcius.



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I dont see any problem with this wile the lowest I have gone is 18 degrees, My LFS has a display goldfish tank setup with 5 BN's with a temp of 16-18 degrees and their tank has been going strong for approx 3 years now, the only thing i would be careful of is a sharp temp drop so bring em down as slow as you can or otherwise you may cause shock and that could be disaster :#(

Thanks for the help that has given me some food for thought. Thinking now of getting three BN and a few Ottos.

Hi Caroline.
Can I just ask a couple of questions?
What size is your tank?
What other fish are in it?
Do you actually have Algae?
3 bristlenose will likely fight non-stop, espescially if they are male - and can cause serious injury to each other with their "gill" spikes.
1 BN or a breeding pair would probably be sufficient for most tanks.
Ottos are very sensitive, and I am pretty sure they prefer temps in the high 20's celcius wise, or around 76-80F.


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21 celsius is no problem for ancistrus. I would suggest, though, chaestoma sp. loricariids for your particular tank. They are more apt to thrive in coldwater conditions.

Tank is 54 US Gallons. There are only three fish in it. A Black Moor, Choc Oranda and Calico Ryukin. There are two fairly large LFS bought drift wood. We do get algae not tonnes but enough to give a scrub down during the weekly water change. I appreciate that I would have to supplement with a wafer. Happy to have less algae eaters but the aim is to keep the tank as biologically natural as poss, so want to avoid algae chemicals.

Hi Caroline.
Cup of Lifenoodles is right- a rubbernose pleco would be much better suited to your tank, they thrive in cold water conditions.
Also, I am not sure if you are aware of it, but your fish are going to quickly outgrow that tank.
Are you going to trade them in for smaller ones when they get too large?
Ottos will not be able to comfortably live in that low temperature. They enjoy temperatures of around 26-30Celcius.
You could use a BN if you want, or look at Hillstream Loaches, also commonly called a "Butterfly" loach, sometimes mistakenly listed as a pleco. They eat algae and love cold water as well, and they are super super cute!


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Wow we were informed by our LFS that a 4 ft long tank was plenty big enough for fancy goldfish. Getting a tank bigger than 4ftx1ft wide is going to be hard to find. We have a Hagen duo 1200 deep. Next size in UK would be a massive Marine Tank or outside pond!!

People already give us dodgy looks when they see our three fish in this tank....

Is the USA much more advanced than the UK as if we need bigger than we will likely have to import.

Now I feel confused and angrey at our LFS for not pointing this out too us.

OK I still do not have an edit button so am having to post this underneath.

15 inches wide x 18 deep x 47 inches long. We have just measured it. Any advice on whether this is fine for 1 ryukin, 1 black moor and 1 oranda.

Cheers.

Here is a picture of Bruce the Oranda for you.
I have heard a 75g tank is the minimum for 1 oranda.
They can grow to 14 inches in length.
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Actually the UK is more advanced in fishkeeping.
You guys have been keeping fish over there for tens of thousands of years, as opposed to North America only being populated for about 15,000 years, of which only the past 75 years did people even consider fish as pets here.
Im not trying to make you angry at the LFS people, it is a common belief everywhere in the world that fancy goldfish stay small, when in reality they reach sizes far too large for most tanks.
I did not even know myself until my sisters Oranda grew so large it could not even fit in a 10g tank at all! She was sold the goldfish with a tiny 1/2 gallon bowl!
I think Little_Mousling on here used to keep 4 goldies in a 125g tank- you could PM her and ask her what the minimum size tank for your goldies are, or if those particular types will fit, she seems to know a lot about goldfish!
Also, I do not have an "edit" button either!



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Great looking fish. We new they would get pretty big being related to carp hence the size of tank we went for. We would not get rid of them, they are part of the family, just get a bigger tank ....

Decided on a rubber nose plec. Going to get just the one.

Thanks for all the advice we have been given.

Well we have our new babies ...

1 Rubbber Nose PLec
1 Clown Plec

Both love our tank, they zoom around, play hide and seek on the bog wood, and interact with our fancy fish.

We have turned our temp up to 23C which believe it or not our fancy fish actually prefer from looking at the fact they greet us more, eat more with less waste, swim more and play with the bubbles. So glad we got our babies they have added a new dimension to our tank.

Cheers to everyone for all the advice.

Very cool Caroline.
I look forward to seeing pics if you have any!
Enjoy your new friends!


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