Whiptail Catfish

[Primetime]

I have a lot of soft algae in my tank and have had problems with green water in the past, that seem to be comming back (water is like 5% greenish).

I was looking at my LFS for an algae eater, and since they did not have SAE's, my preference was to get a Bristlenose Pleco.

However, I am facinated by the Whiptail (twig) Catfish's appearence and since they are on sale at my LFS, I was wondering if they'd make good algae eaters. I also have fry in my tanks and I know that they wont harm fry so thats another bonus.

Any experience/info on them?

 

[DaisyTattoo]

I have a whiptail, and although I dont have any visible algae in my tank, I can tell you that he is always stuck on something. He is pretty neat and very docile. I would highly recommend them for a community tank.

 

[Primetime]

I have a whiptail, and although I dont have any visible algae in my tank, I can tell you that he is always stuck on something. He is pretty neat and very docile. I would highly recommend them for a community tank.

Great. I love them already but I didn't wanna rush it.

 

[quenton]

I have 4 -- they lived through a very bad ich/fin&tail-rot episode that lasted 3 weeks and killed my clown plecos, my clown loaches and 1 of my bala sharks. The tank was heavily
salted, and had 2 types of bacterial meds in it -- still have 4 whip-tails -- they are neat, they were a spur-of-the-moment purchase which I think was a success.

 

[patoloco]

I have one, and he is always minding his own bussiness. He sucks on plants with no damage, and also the glass. He vas even bitten by another tankmate and lost his tail fin. He had a little fungus in the tip, but recovered on his own and his tail grew back.

 

[Primetime]

So from what I understand, they have a great personality.. The main question still stands: Are they good algae eaters?

 

[IceH2O]

May I ask the scientific name of this fish? When i google it I come up with different names and I want to make sure I get the correct one.

 

[Primetime]

May I ask the scientific name of this fish? When i google it I come up with different names and I want to make sure I get the correct one.

Sorry, can't really help you there, but from what I understand, there are many species of this fish, so thats the reason you get different names.

 

[Flowerhorn916]

there a cool fish but they dont clean alage at all from what I see in my tank

 

[Primetime]

there a cool fish but they dont clean alage at all from what I see in my tank

c: that sucks. I really need a good algae eater, and if I get these guys, I wont have space for one.