35 Gallon Long.. need algae / scavengers...

[sSNAKESs.com]

I have a 35 gallon long with 6 Tiger Barbs, 3 Albino Tiger Barbs and a pair of Neon Barbs. What should i get for scavengers and algae eaters??? Im undecided... any help would be great! :)http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/503/135gallon-med.jpg

[corr]

Bristlenose Pleco!! They stay small, are docile, and are really cool looking! :)

[Geck-co]

king tiger pleco really cool mind you ya barely see them.. they are super shy.. at least mine is... but he has surrived a fwe diff species of piranhas so he is really good at hiding :)

mine has stayed small and i read they only get to be like 4-5" mind you maby mine is small cause he has forced hmiself to stay smal to be able to hide better? or maby they are just extremly slow growers who knows... I had thought I lost the lil guy untill i totally emeptied a 20 gall to upgrad to a 40 and there he was lol

he is now in a 65 gallon with 3 spilos i did happen to see him the other day so he is still alive....


psst if ya got the coin geta zebra pelco very beaufitull heh

[Youkai]

clown plecos! I absolutely love them. Small, colorful. But they are secretive.

[corr]

After I posted here, I went and did my dailey tank inspection, and one of my bristlenoses had dug a nest! I think I might have a pair! :D

[sSNAKESs.com]

Congrats Corr!!! :)

[Shane Tesser]

algae eaters!!! scavengers!!! Jeff, we have a long way to go to get you up to date, lol.

[Geck-co]

jeff big als in sauga has some king tiger plecos... $24 bux or something...

heh glad that pj's mis identified mine for a salefin i got him for $6 bux LOL
just thought I would share that with ya incase you where thinking of gettin one ;)

[Duncan]

Hi Jeff,

You can't go wrong with about a dozen otocinclus sp. (have you seen the new "tiger" oto's? WOW! Of course at $30 or so a pop, you might not be able to get a dozen! LOL. The regular vittatus or affinis are usually about $2 though). They stay small but do an awesome job cleaning up. If you're looking for something bigger, how about 3-5 Siamensis algae eaters (Crossocheilus siamensis), they get big (4-6", but no bigger than some of the pleco's mentioned), but don't bug anybody. They're also one of the few that will eat some of the beard and hair algae that sometimes develops after a while. Careful you don't end up with a "flying fox" though, (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus ) they look a lot like the true siamensis but don't do much on the algae and may chase after any other similar bottom feeders. Your neon ("modified" rosy) barbs will also eat hair algae too. The tank looks great by the way, can't wait to see it in a month or two when it "grows in."

Duncan

[corr]

Yes, Siamensis is a good algae eater however, I have never ever seen one around here. Do you see them a lot, Duncan?

Otos are a good idea too... if you can keep them alive. Some people have much better luck than others. They're the one fish that I can only keep alove for a few weeks, my nemisis. Very annoying!

[Duncan]

Corr,

We're pretty lucky here in Edmonton to have some great LFS and top breeders. Siamensis appear quite regularly, although usually at the 1-2" range (not locally bred though, I don't know if they've ever been captive bred!). We've also got lots of Corydoras guys in the local fish club who supply the area with everything from C. sterbai, C. barbatus, C. aeneus "midnight black" and C. aeneus "laser green" (mentioned by Youkai in a different thread I think) to a local breeder of zebra plecos! Its really cool to go into a local store and see 20-30, 1" CB baby zebra plecos on sale for about $30 each, or so. And you don't even want to get me started going on about all the S. American Apistogrammas that are available! (can you tell what a few of my favorite fish are?)

As for your oto troubles, I think that most otos coming into most LFS's are probably WC, meaning they might already be in pretty rough shape to begin with, especially in terms of how much they've eaten in their recent past. Its pretty hard to tell on an oto how fat/thin they might be! When you pop 'em into a "typical" tank, they clean out most of the algae in a day or two and them slowly starve to death (that's if they were "well" enough to begin with, otherwise they might not even last that first day or two!). Try adding a half dozen, minimum, to your tank (I've found they do better in groups), make sure that there's decent current from a powerhead or filter overflow for them to swim into (again, a personal observation), and feed the heck out of 'em! Algae discs, parboiled zucchini and beans, even romaine lettuce in a pinch.

Hope this helps, give them a try again!

Duncan

[Youkai]

Duncan...

PM about this if you wish.

I'm Edmontonian, and would LOVE for you to give me some information about clubs in our area. And where those zebra plecos were...and who has those cories...and...and...I crave information!

[corr]

Thanks for the suggestions, Duncan. Unfortunately, I've done all of those things already. I may try again one day, but I just HATE losing fish. At one time I had five of them, lots of current, algae wafers, etc.. Not sure if they were WC or not. I've purchased them from different stores around, but that doesn't mean that they didn't come from the same source, of course.