Re: Algae Eaters...

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Algae Eaters...
From: "John Y. Ching" <jyching at watnow_uwaterloo.ca>
Date: Sat, 5 Aug 1995 22:48:36 -0400 (EDT)
In-Reply-To: <199508051939.PAA22691 at looney_actwin.com>

> From: SusanKFord at aol_com
> Date: Sat, 5 Aug 1995 10:39:35 -0400
> Subject: Algae Eaters...
> 
> I'm about to set up a 55 gallon tank with plants and fish.  It was mentioned
> that you should get several different kinds of algae eaters to keep the algae
> blooms under control when first setting up.
> 
> What types of algae eaters are good for a planted tank?
> 
> Susan

I think it was mentioned in the plants FAQ or the algae FAQ posted
on *.aquaria that you can cycle your new planted tank with a
combination of Black Mollies, any of the livebearing toothed carps,
otocinclus sp., some of the smaller species of plecos (e.g.  Bristlenose),
and the invaluable Siamese Algae Eater (C. siamensis) which is said to eat
red algae. I tried to follow that advice when I started my 90 gal plant
tank 6 weeks ago by stocking 3 Mollies, 6 Platies, 6 otos, and 2 Pekoltia.
Alas, I could not find the SAE and the only problem I have now is red
beard algae. 

Oh yes, make sure you don't feed them for the first few weeks. I didn't
follow that step strictly because I felt sorry for the fish :-(. As a
result the fish were not as motivated to eat the algae. 

 John Y. Ching (jyching at watnow_uwaterloo.ca)    |
 Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence Lab	| 
 Department of Systems Design Engineering      	| 
 University of Waterloo, Canada            	|