Florida Flag Fish?

[wolfbane]

Can I put them in with my discus? They love hair and stringy algaes, and I have been told by some that they are only aggressive when breeding, and only over a small area. Trying to get the last of the algae gone.
Any thoughts appreciated.

[Ryan]

Debbie,

My only thoughts are the temperature. Do you know the range? A lot of native Florida fish prefer water in the mid to upper 70s. They are technically cold water fish, aren't they? Maybe someone can correct me on that.

I've never actually kept them, but I used to dip-net them all the time. Gotta love living in Florida :)

Ryan

[discusdave]

Can I put them in with my discus? They love hair and stringy algaes, and I have been told by some that they are only aggressive when breeding, and only over a small area. Trying to get the last of the algae gone.
Any thoughts appreciated.

Debbie,
I have had FFF in my planted tanks before, but never with discus. They are aggressive towards each other more than other fish, IME. They shouldn't be a problem with discus. The only issue they might have is they are aggressive feeders, so they might eat some food the discus would otherwise get.

Also, the 85 degree temperatures Discus are used to may be a bit high for them, but my planted tanks have reached 81-82 and it didn't seem to stress them at all.

[AmberC]

I guess I'll have to look those up cause I dont know what they look like but sound interesting!

Amber

[AmberC]

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/images/products/FFFmale.jpg
Thats the only pic I could find and heres the info that followed:



A most efficient weapon against HAIRY ALGAE in your aquarium. They just LOVE to eat this algae. They will even devour hair algae forms that Siamese Algae Eaters (SAEs) won't touch. Its been noted recently that several forms of Bush Algae will also fall before a FFF (http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product.asp?3=121) onslaught.


This is a tough little fish that lives and prospers under some truly wide water conditions from the very soft, acidic waters of a discus tank, to very hard waters in an African Cichlid tank (though they cannot be kept with those aggressive African Cichlids), to even Brackish water. It is very resistant to disease, temperature changes, pH swings and to water change stress.


FFF grow not much bigger than 2"; and are shoaling fish. They breed easily. Please note, males will defend their eggs from other fish that try to encroach. This area is usually a 6 sq inch zone so its insignificant in large planted aquaria. To prevent this behavior, be prepared to separate males from females to prevent them from breeding. Male FFF are also the most attractive compared to the Female FFF. Reduce your fish feedings to encourage even speedier hairy algae elimination. Use standard acclimatization protocols for breaking in new fish. Check out our new article on the identification and control various forms of algae (http://www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_identification.html).

[wolfbane]

Thanks everyone, I ordered some for my outdoor pond, and will think about the discus tank. It sounds like some males might be ok, kind of a single sex shoal.

[wolfbane]

Ryan, Lol, yeah, as a kid in California, I used to net minnows and the like. I hear there are some Killifish in a creek near me, may look for them sometime.

[reality]

I used to have about 8 of these guys in my tank because I had a major staghorn algae outbreak. the FFF's absolutley murdered it, it was great. but shortly after they took out all of the algae they began to turn on my rainbows and danios, totally shreaded their fins in a matter of days. it got so bad that I had to take them back to the LFS where I got them. I didn't have my discus back then (about 6 months ago) but after seeing this behavior I'd be weary about putting them with the discus.