Need an Algae Eating Catfish Suggestion...

Malawi · Post by **Malawi** » 26 Nov 2003, 19:52

hi
i am new here--GREAT site

i have a 5.5 gallon Tanganyika set up for Shell Dwellers. (Multis)
they stay very small--max 1.5 inches.
there are no plants
water is pretty hard and alkaline--not to an extreme however
ph-8
kh-5 degrees
gh-9 degrees

would relatively small algae eating catfish would you reccomend for this set up
any help would be greatly appreciated

ps--i use ancistrus sp. for all my large African Tanks with GREAT success
however--i feel that these are too big for a 5.5

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 27 Nov 2003, 00:14

I can not think of any of the smaller species 1-3" that i would expose to a pH of 8.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 27 Nov 2003, 01:24

yeah, only thing I can think of is otos and... they're not goona do well in that pH I'd imagine

degrassi · Post by **degrassi** » 27 Nov 2003, 02:55

I posted a similar question at a african messageboard about my 10g shellie tank and they responded that a bristlenose pleco would get severely picked on my the shell dwellers and would not be worth adding to the tank. If you are having algae problems i think you are going ot have to clean it out by hand,its what i have to do

oh, I forgot in this tank i do have a zebra snail and he helps a bit with algae control. Maybe one of those will work for you. I'm going to be adding 1 or 2 more to see if they can keep my rocks clean.

Malawi · Post by **Malawi** » 27 Nov 2003, 14:46

thanks for the reply guys, i appreciate it.
i guess i will have to do the manual thing or go with snails!
i hate snails

degrassi--how about some pics of your tank...would love to see it.

thanks
M

Post by **Barbie** » 27 Nov 2003, 17:18

This is a zebra nerita snail. They don't easily reproduce in aquaria, and I imagine 1 or two could make good inroads in your algae. They come from very fast flowing water, and rarely leave the glass though, so you have to keep an eye on them getting enough food. I liked mine, but in my tanks, they weren't the sole source of algae removal.

I know this sounds a bit obvious, but why not move the multis up to a 10 gallon? You'd have more of a water column to buffer quality once they have some fry, and you could add a bristlenose then?

Barbie

Post by **Shane** » 27 Nov 2003, 17:26

There is still one other option..turn off the lights. Most of us are really only home a few hours a day to watch our fish, so it really does not matter if the lights are on for 10-12 hours a day (unless you have live plants of course). You could easily set a timer to run the lights from 6-10:00pm which is probably when you watch them the most. A four hour photo period really cuts down on the algae.
-Shane