Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V5 #266

[Ed and Laurie Dumas <eldumas at telus_net>]

Hi Travis,

> I just bought three chinese algae eaters, when I meant to buy siamese algae
> eaters! When I got back to the car I was thinking that I didn't want
> chinese, I wanted Siamese. Should I bother returning them at $1.39 or would
> they be ok to put in my heavily planted 29-gallon, where I have some danios,
> neons, and some otto's?

Just remember that Chinese Algae eaters can be very agressive when they
get larger. Their diet apparently consists of 50% algae and 50% fish
slime when they are small. They will chase large, slow flat fish
(angelfish, discus) mercilessly to get at their slime. As they get older
they go for more protein in their diet, like other fish. As algae eaters
go, they are only worth $1.39. I would not keep them.

Ed Dumas