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Here's a silly question about algae... we never seem to see any in the tank. Is Herbie doing that good of a job, or is it because we do weekly water changes??

We feed Herbie bits of algae wafers every day, thinking he must not be getting a lot to eat because we never see any algae in the tank...

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys

Hi,
Algae is an opportunistic critter. It takes advantage of
niches and thrives.
Too much Nitrogen, to little phosphorous. Too much light
too much nutrients, too little plants.. To have no algae
is something to enjoy, and not jinx yourself by commenting
out loud about it.

Actually your tank is nicely balanced between the water
changes, amount/duration of light, the quantity/size
of your fish, and the type/quantity of any plants.
Good work ... Enjoy!

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

While a little algae can be useful no algae shows your doing a good job maintaining your tank without overfeeding or missing water changes. Unless you have a fair amount of plants your also somewhat lucky and just have good water with a low amount of balanced nutrients.

Boy you're jinxing yourself saying that outloud! Keep up the good work maintaining your tank!

-Josh

Hi there,
obviously the CAE is getting enough to eat.
Keep in mind that Chinese Algae eaters grow
to be 11 inches in length and stop eating algae
once they grow. They become carnivorous and
often kill and eat fish, espescially in small
cramped tanks.

Currently the stocking is
4 Black neons
4 Glowlights
4 Cardinals
1 CAE
Thats actually a stocking of 25 inches of
fish in a 7g tank, that has room for possibly 8-10 inches
of fish.
Perhaps you can convince your son to get a
30 gallon tank, which would be perfect for the current
stocking you have.


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I've SEEN a specimen of Gyrinocheilus aymonieri that was 11 inches at Chester Zoo. When you see one that big, you NEVER buy one for a typical home aquarium EVER again.

Here in the UK, they're known by the common name of 'Sucking Loach'. Which is far more appropriate, because they are closely related to true Loaches, and of course, they have sucking mouthparts. Doesn't fool people into believing that they're good algae eaters when they're called that. 'Chinese Algae Eater' is probably the WORST choice of common name for this fish, because although it's Chinese, it's not an algae eater once adult ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks, everyone... hope I didn't just jinx our tank!!

We do realize Herbie will grow much bigger and become aggressive, we're keeping an eye on him and have already found two LFS that said they will take him in when he's too big for my son's tank.

We have noticed he doesn't seem to be sucking as much as before, we may drop the wafer feedings to every other day or every three days just to make sure he keeps on top of the algae.

Our tank: 45 gallons
7x Cardinal Tetras 7x Black Neon Tetras
7x Glowlight Tetras 2x Ottos 2x Ghost Shrimp 3x Spotted Corys 3x Panda Corys