Help me pic my next Algae eater

[mudfrogk5]

I'm looking for an algae eater preferably dark brownish and tough looking. It needs to look "prehistoric" and an armor look would be nice. I'm putting together a bichir tank and plan on using prehistoric looking cats / pleco's to go with the theme. I already have two Marbled Raphael's, just need an algae eater to go along with the theme.

[snowball]

I had a Peckoltia cavatica that I though looked particularly prehistoric, moreso than most Loricariides I've kept, however it's not really an algae eater.

Perhpas a Farlowella might fit the bill? They do look quite reptillian in appearance.

[sidguppy]

Farlowella and Bichir is not a good match; Bichir is a vicious predator and large too. Farlowella's are a bit on the wee site of the Loricariids.....

I'd go for a Rhino-, Chocolate- or Crocodile-Plec; it fits your bill: chocolate brown, eats algae, looks prehistoric and gets large enough not to be bothered by any Bichir.


Ptegygoplichthys scrophus

[mudfrogk5]

I already have a chocolate in my tank and he is ok although he doesn't really fit the look of what I want. The Royal Farlowella has the look I want but yes I do not want them to be hasled by the bichirs.

BTW.. the bichir's I plan on keeping will max out at 12-13" so I figure any pleco over 4" should be ok.

[sidguppy]

You're in for a nasty shock....

there is NO Bichir that maxes out at 12"; even the smallest species will reach 40-45 cm or so (16-18") with proper care.
wich means not a stunted growth.

those smallest Bichirs are pretty hard to find, some come from countries with a war going on, others from countries wich simply do not export fish.

the usual Bichirs found in store are Polypterus senegalensis (wich reaches 2.5 feet), P ornatipinnis (wich is given lengths between 45 cm and 70 cm/18"-2.5feet), P delhezi (2 feet) and P bichir with can reach 3 feet.

[mudfrogk5]

You're in for a nasty shock....

there is NO Bichir that maxes out at 12"; even the smallest species will reach 40-45 cm or so (16-18") with proper care.
wich means not a stunted growth.

those smallest Bichirs are pretty hard to find, some come from countries with a war going on, others from countries wich simply do not export fish.

the usual Bichirs found in store are Polypterus senegalensis (wich reaches 2.5 feet), P ornatipinnis (wich is given lengths between 45 cm and 70 cm/18"-2.5feet), P delhezi (2 feet) and P bichir with can reach 3 feet.

The Senegalus (not senegalensis) reaches roughly 12" in an aquarium, not from stunted growth. There are about 4-5 different species that only reach 12-13" long. I would pay money to see a Senegalus that is 2.5 feet long, that is unheard of, even in the wild they do not get that large.

Yes they do typically come from "war zones" however they are usually readily availble. Petsmart sells the Seneagalus as a dinosaure eel and they always have plenty of those available. The other species I plan on getting is a Dehlzi which also max's out at around 13".

Where did you get your information on bichirs?

[MatsP]

You're in for a nasty shock....

there is NO Bichir that maxes out at 12"; even the smallest species will reach 40-45 cm or so (16-18") with proper care.
wich means not a stunted growth.

those smallest Bichirs are pretty hard to find, some come from countries with a war going on, others from countries wich simply do not export fish.

the usual Bichirs found in store are Polypterus senegalensis (wich reaches 2.5 feet), P ornatipinnis (wich is given lengths between 45 cm and 70 cm/18"-2.5feet), P delhezi (2 feet) and P bichir with can reach 3 feet.

Your in for a shock, the Senegalus (not senegalensis) reaches roughly 12" in an aquarium, not from stunted growth. There are about 4-5 different species that only reach 12-13" long. I would pay money to see a Senegalus that is 2.5 feet long, that is unheard of, even in the wild they do not get that large.

Yes they do typically come from "war zones" however they are usually readily availble. Petsmart sells the Seneagalus as a dinosaure eel and they always have plenty of those available. The other species I plan on getting is a Dehlzi which also max's out at around 13".

Where did you get your information on bichirs?

I think Sid is more right than you Mudfrog...

According to thispage in Fishbase: P. senegalus senegalus Max size 50.5cm TL which is about 20". There's no reason why the fish would not grow to somewhere near this size in an aquarium, assuming it's being looked after correctly.

P.Dehlzi shows the same 50.5 cm max length.

Of course, if you don't look after them right, they will not grow to full size. But that's not the same thing as the genetical programming that determines the fish's maximum size and growth rate.

Btw, generally, fishbase is "short" on the maximum length because the length comes from preserved specimens in museums, and it's often awkward to keep really large specimens... I don't know anything about Bichirs myself, so I can only refer to web-sites with information. And I do believe that fishbase.org is one of the more reliable [it does go wrong every now and again, since it _IS_ humans that input the data].

--
Mats

[mudfrogk5]

I looked all over the web and the max reported size (that I could find) is 20" in the wild. 98% of the species profile pages I visited said up to 12" in captivity, while the others said up to 16" in the wild and generally smaller in captivity.

Personally I would love for my Senegalus's to reach 16+" I just do not think it will ever happen. And as I said before I would love to see a two and half foot Senegalus.

[mudfrogk5]

Just to kind of back me up please look at the following post:

http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/inde ... opic=20537

A very knowledgeable member of the board posted several locations for proof of my claim that the Senegalus max's out around 12"


Anyway, back to the question at hand. I need a really cool prehistoric looking pleco. I'm still open for suggestions