what are the differences in these algae eater?
- Thread starter mcshell
- Start date
Ottos-don't know anything much, is said to be intolerant of travel stree, small.
Sae-is too big for small tanks, but is a great all around algae eater otherwise. eats the dreaded black brush/beard algae that no/few fish would touch. Entertaining to watch, too.
Cae-has a bad rap, since its not really a good algae eater, especially when it gets older. It will suck on the fish slime instead. Is a good fish IMO, but not for the purpose of controlling algae. Can become territorial/aggresive.
Algae eating shark- I have one, although its a red tailed black shark. I dont know if it will stop eating algae when it grows older, but it is now. I do have SAEs, so no problem there. Eats most algae.
Sae-is too big for small tanks, but is a great all around algae eater otherwise. eats the dreaded black brush/beard algae that no/few fish would touch. Entertaining to watch, too.
Cae-has a bad rap, since its not really a good algae eater, especially when it gets older. It will suck on the fish slime instead. Is a good fish IMO, but not for the purpose of controlling algae. Can become territorial/aggresive.
Algae eating shark- I have one, although its a red tailed black shark. I dont know if it will stop eating algae when it grows older, but it is now. I do have SAEs, so no problem there. Eats most algae.
Otto's are great in general, I've only had one otto death out of roughly 20 in my tanks. They're absolutely wonderful for brown algae / diatoms. I think they eat hair algae - not sure but the ones in my QT tank love to hang out amongst the green hair algae (used as nitrogen control in case meds wipe out biological filter)
SAEs will eat black brush algae - but only NEW fresh algae, they wont touch the older stuff.
CAEs - if you get them when they are small they will chew on various algaes (brown and greens) all day. And they're very efficient, once they hit about 1-1.5" their carnivorous nature seems to develop. At that point they should be removed.
There are many more algae eaters out there, such as the amano or algae eating shrimp, Cherry shrimp, black mollies, american flagfish, the list goes on and on... I've even noticed guppies take the occasional bite of bba when they're left unfed for a day.
Andy
SAEs will eat black brush algae - but only NEW fresh algae, they wont touch the older stuff.
CAEs - if you get them when they are small they will chew on various algaes (brown and greens) all day. And they're very efficient, once they hit about 1-1.5" their carnivorous nature seems to develop. At that point they should be removed.
There are many more algae eaters out there, such as the amano or algae eating shrimp, Cherry shrimp, black mollies, american flagfish, the list goes on and on... I've even noticed guppies take the occasional bite of bba when they're left unfed for a day.
Andy
I had a cae in one of my 10g tanks and he got very aggressive, slamming into other fish. When I got him, he was only 1" long and when he died he was like 3"+. He seemed to eat more algae when he was younger. I don't know what he died from, he just all of the sudden started swimming funny(like upside down and twirling) and then died a couple days later.