alge eaters

[montegna]

Hi everyone,
I have a 50 gl tank with 4 discus and a number of corys (6 i think) and a few tetras. I have a problem with a very dark and ugly alge growing. I had a small SAE in the tank and it did a great job keeping the alge under controll. well, he finally got brave enought and started chasing the discus so, he is now in a new home. I am wondering if there is another type alge eater that I can add to the discus tank that will not attack them. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Karen

[dawncollette]

hi, I have gold nugget plecos, sultan or gray charcoal L-264 plecos, and some white albino anisctrus plecos and none of them have tried sucking on my discus. My bristlenose pleco however did and I moved him.
Hope this helps,
dawn

[White Worm]

My BN plecos never bother my discus. I never even see them swim around. They usually stay on the bottom of the tank and kinda slide around or they are constantly stuck to the Large driftwood in the tank. They are really active scooting around the tank bottom during feeding time but pretty invisible otherwise.

[pcsb23]

BN's are the most consistent alage eaters ime.

A dark and ugly algae sounds like it may be BBA in which case nothing eats that.

[architect1]

I got BN plecos and SEA. I find the BN work the best. i rarly have to clean my tanks.

[tpl*co]

Yes, BN's here too. dawncollette did you feed your bN? They eat quite a bit and will need their diets supplimented with some greens or algae wafers.

I also use Spixi snails with good results. They are a small apple type snail with beautiful striped shells.

Tina

[montegna]

Tina,
the snails will tolerate the high temp of the discus tank? I read that snails will only last a short time in the warmer water.
I have often had, and have one now, common plecto. So the BN Plecto does a better job of alge cleaning than the common?
Karen

[Wahter]

I have a problem with a very dark and ugly alge growing

what type of 'dark algae' do you have?

Did you have a real SAE (Siamese Algae Eater - Crossocheilus siamensis) or a CAE (Chinese Algae Eater - Gyrinocheilus aymonieri)?

SAE info:
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

I've post some pics of some SAEs in this thread:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=48252

and a couple of pics of the CAE here:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=49025

Hope that helps. I've not had any trouble with SAEs chasing discus.

Bushynose/ bristlenose generally work very well with discus.

the snails will tolerate the high temp of the discus tank? I read that snails will only last a short time in the warmer water.

IME, it's not the temperature that kills the snails. If you have very soft, acid water, the snails don't seem to get enough calcium and their shells become brittle, so that seems to kill them off. I'd recommend skipping the snails - they can multiply faster than rabbits and then you can have a tank full of them and they add to the waste factor.



Walter

[dawncollette]

hey Tina, yes I give my plecos algae wafers pretty much on a daily basis.....I think this particular pleco just decided he liked the mucus on the side of the discus and one night around 1am I decided to look into the tank with a flash light and lo and behold he was chasing them all down and sucking on the side of them. The large heckle I have was really disturbed by this and so that is why I moved him. My other plecos haven't bothered any of the discus....so maybe it was just this one......
dawn

[judy]

I have five real Siamese algae eaters (as they grow, three of them will go to new homes elsewhere because they'll just get too big) and they do a great job. None of them is the least bit interested in the discus, either-- they tend to school with each other and ignore all the other fish. I also wonder if you had a real SAE or the one that looks similar (the real ones have the black horizontal stripe go right thru the tail, and if you look close, that stripe is serrated, not smooth, as it is in the not-real version).
Don't have a BN pleco-- had heard they can decide to stick onto discus because of the mucus fuilm on discus, espy when spawning. But no one here seems to have had that problem..

[baldpate]

I've had a bristlenose for about 6 months and have never had a problem w/ it and my discus.

I can't say that it was the most effective at algae control when I had a lot of algae - except on my driftwood. It is always gnawing at the driftwood! The one fish may not have been enough in my 125gal, but I've been hesitant about adding another. I've heard 2 males in a tank get pretty territorial and I'm a bit afraid of gender mis-ID at the fish store yielding 2 males in my tank.

The best thing I found at algae control was reducing my lights to 9hrs/day. My plants are still doing great, but now I have very little algae. So little in fact that I throw a couple algae wafers in the tank at night because I'm not sure the Ancistrus has enough to eat.

[hironobu]

Other than BN pleco I recently added some red cherry shrimp to my 90G tank with 6 discus and a group of 20+ tetra. So far I really enjoy watching the shrimps and I have observed absolutely no interest on the discus part to attack/eat the shrimp. I guess the key is to always have a piece of drift wood or any kind of moss in the tank to afford the shrimps a hiding place, especially during and after molting. Shrimps are great alge eaters and add a splash of color to the bottom of your tank. They are also very fun to watch.

[Apistomaster]

I know of no other pleco that is better behaved and as good at algae eater than the common bushy nose. I have them in all my discus tanks. I breed hundreds of them so there is always one just the right size for any size discus. I have never had any problems with bushy noses bothering discus. Common plecos are often guilty of attacking discus.
For a fancy pleco, I like the Gold Nugget Pleco. It is a reasonably good algae eater. Most of the popular fancy plecos in the genera Hypancistrus eg, L260 Queen Arabesque or Peckoltia L134 Leopard Frog Pleco,
are not algae eaters but they are good discus tank mates because the like warm water and the same foods as discus so they are a colorful addition and useful in finding food the Discus may miss.

[Hans Kloss]

Iver know of no other pleco that is better behaved and as good at algae eater than the common bushy nose.

Otos are far better . Have never seen otos eating discus food, but adult bristlenose prefer rather meat over algae.
Hans

[MaryPa]

Otos are far better . Have never seen otos eating discus food, but adult bristlenose prefer rather meat over algae.
Hans

Ahaaaaa I thought mine was getting lazy.