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Well, I was looking for something that would eat algae like a plec.

So, was wondering if there was anything to fit in that lake tang setup I could try?

Not very fond of the synnos

Oh, I forgot. It would be a 55 gallon setup

If you want something that eats algae well, then I would suggest a Common Bristlenose, . They are not, of course, African, but from South America.

They are very adaptable to water conditions, generally easy to find and have sufficient ability to "fend for themselves" in that they are armoured and capable of hiding [assuming you've got some good places to hide].

And they are the best algae eaters available.

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Mas

I already have a bristlenose! I wasn't sure about being able to adapt to the water conditions.

Thanks

Well, I haven't tried it myself, but I've seen several people say that it's fine.

I have a larger in my inherited Malawi setup. It's far too large for it's tank, but no worse than it was in the old setup. I also don't know the pH, because I'm using the same tap-water that the old setup was, with a lot of calciferous stone in the tank itself.

Clearly, you shouldn't use Blackwater species of Ancistrus, such as for this sort of setup - they require much lower pH to be at least a bit happy.

But the common variety (sp(3)) seem to actually prefer a higher pH/hardness situation in the first place.

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Mats

yup, Ancistrus 'domesticus' is the best you can get for your buck

another good one is the Orange Blue-eyed ancistrus L144
make sure you get captive-breds.

this is the clou: captive-bred Ancistrus (and Pterygoplichthys spp!) adapt to different waterparameters with little or no issues at all.
so they usually do fine in Tanganyikan or Malawian set-ups.

quite often they even breed; my first success of breeding the common Brown Bristlenose was in a Tanganyikan breeding tank with Phyllonemus and Julidochromis (!)