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what king of pleco or any other algae eating fish would be safe in my 55 gallon tank with my two fully grown and constantly breeding convict cichlids. the only algae eater i have tried was a common pleco that was about 3.5 inches who only lasted a month and a half. i think i need something that will fight back when attacked so the convicts will learn to back off. they even attck my hand when i am doin water changes and such.

maybe a few big snails or a sailfin plec. sailfins (aka gibbiceps) can be pretty territorial and may fight back a little bit. the fact is though that if the cons don't like it, it won't last. This is especially true if these cons really are full grown (6" standard length for the male and slightly smaller for the female).

the male is closer to 6.5 inches and the female is a little smaller and they are super territorial even when i put my hand in the tank they attack the male has even drawn blood but i love them and never thought of getting apple snails so i think i will run down to the LFS and get two( i am on a fixed income plan so i can save some money)

2 apple snails could quickly turn into 200 apple snails.

having never had Cons ill assume they are alot like an aggressive oscar. For my oscar/severum tank i have a large apple snail, a 13" common plec, and 2 adult BN's. With plenty of hiding places the algae eaters can tuck tail and run.

Siamese algae eaters tend to fight back .. however they lose the lust for algae at larger sizes.

If they tend to leave dither fish alone ... cherry barbs may be a good choice. As would a group of live bearers.

Dependent upon temperment some BNs fight back ... One of mine will kick my peacocks out of their breeding grounds when its feeding time ... or just feeling ornery.

bdadawg

i thought that apple snails were sexed my male and female and couldn't change sex so i was think of buying to and hoping to get two females or two males. please correct me if i am wrong

You may want to try getting an adult pleco. If the pleco's bigger than the cichlids, they may not even bother. But then again, cichlids do whatever they want. I have a store around here that sells even full grown (18" common plecos. Pricy, but beautiful.

if the other fishes in the tank are small, try mollys. try, gold nugget pelco.

gold nugget plecos don't eat algae and are far too delicate to put in with breeding cons.

Wat about a Bristlenose...

Get a fully grown BN, but make sure that you have alot of caves, so it will hide, when the Convicts get aggressive.


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