Algee eaters

[pearllady]

Are algee eaters members of the catfish family ? And what would make good tank mates for them. I have 3. They are 3", 2" and 1". They are in a small
5 1/2 tank right now untill I upgrade to a 40gal soon.

 

[NDferro]

All depends what kind of algae eaters are they

 

[pearllady]

They are orange and i got them at petsmart

 

[geekrockgirl85]

those are probably "golden algae eaters", which are basically just like chinese algae eaters... fine now, but will get to be mean little buggers in their old age. if you consider 6" little, that is.

they will probably not make good tankmates for anybody, imho.

they are probably more closely related to barbs and loaches than to catfish... although there are asian cats, more cat species are from s.america.

 

[pearllady]

Yes I kind of thought they get mean as they get older, the larger one pics on the the other two. I should have done a little reading up on them before I got them. Now I don't know what I am going to do with them :duh:

 

[BrianAW]

i was told that if you change algae eats to another tank make sure that there is algae in the tank or they will starve.

just my two cents.

 

[TKOS]

They are also prone to attack each other (as you have noticed). A larger tank may provide them with enough territory but it may not. Be prepared to move them somewhere if they start to attack each other and cause damage. They would be best housed with fast moving fish. Slower larger fish can often get attacked as the CAE or golden algae eater attaches and starts to eat the slime coat.