Highest and lowest bioloads?

[inkyjenn]

o man. i have an 11" gibby pleco that is a POOP MACHINE. my bf will suck out every scrap of poop from his tank, turn around to refill the tank and by the time hes ready to refill there is a mass of poop on the bottom. and the saddest part is that im NOT exaggerating. the littler plecos make a lot of poop too, but the physical size of it is proportional so it doesnt seem like so much.

 

[LeahK]

I'll put this in the "higher than you'd think category"--otos. They are eating constantly, which makes their bioload high compared to their small size.

 

[dixienut]

the dwarf puffer and most puffers cause of the way and what they eat makes a lot of mess with foodstuffs,.and poo,.

 

[Lupin]

Interesting. I've heard that herbivorous shrimps are pretty low on the bioload scale, but perhaps it's higher bioload on the invert scale, lower bioload on the overall scale. I figured goldies would place high, but I'm surprised by plecos. Ive never owned one, so I wouldn't know. Very interesitng. Anyone else?

Plecos are indeed poo machines and so are nerite snails and apple snails. Goldfish, koi and oscars are a few others that top the list indeed.

 

[DrNo]

Gourami = mess

 

[Squawkbert]

Algae eating shrimp - pound for pound, very high on the list, but they're so small that people don't notice it.

I hadn't thought of puffers, but yeah - due to their feeding methods and scattering of a good deal of their food, that moves them higher on the list than other organisms w/ similar diets that actually put all of their food into their mouths... I guess sharks would be in between fish that swallow their food whole and puffers.