How big will this guy grow?

Soho · Post by **Soho** » 06 Jan 2007, 21:11

Thanks

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 06 Jan 2007, 22:25

About 12, 5 cms. See

Soho · Post by **Soho** » 06 Jan 2007, 22:44

Marc, will a 20G tank be enough for two of them as algae eaters?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 06 Jan 2007, 22:56

Yes. Make sure they have some hiding spaces and don't add too many other fishes.

gakirby · Post by **gakirby** » 07 Jan 2007, 05:00

It should be fine granted you watch the water quality and do weekly water changes.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 07 Jan 2007, 12:49

a 20G is a bit small for 2 adults.

unless you really want to breed them, you might think about trading the second one when they pass the 2" mark.

wich is no problem at all; these are among the best algae-eaters in the hobby and one of the few where there's always demand for adults as well.

this has to do with 2 issues:
-foodcompetition. a 20G can be kept spotless by 1 Ancistrus; a second one can get quite hungry. heck, even a 100G can be kept spotless by 1.....I mean REALLY GOOD algae-eaters, these.....

-territorial behaviour. this is connected to the food; Ancistrus are grumpy fish and if you could ask one what his/her least favourite tankmember was the answer would be "another speciesmember in here!". even between a male and a female you can observe spinelocking, shoving, chasing, fighting etc. as babies they're fairly mellow (yours is a baby) but they sure get a bit more grumpy when growing up.

unless you want to breed them (it's a nice fish for breeding if you're not a pro, and fun to watch), then you need a pair. but even then conditioning them in separate tanks is a good thing unless you have a significantly bigger tank.