ScoobywagonGl

dunno if anyone will know ...

Bought 2 Alage <sp?> eaters on sunday and they are doing a fine job of cleaning up the tank!
Its a 2ft tank has been in use for 3 weeks and has been filled for almost 5 weeks however what else do they eat? will they also feed on the fish flakes?
there are 13 fish in total in my tank but not sure if i should be feeding them algae discs aswell just incase?
Thanx
Tams

andypugh2000

Fish flakes are fine but then it also depends on what kind of fish you have, most flakes or pellets have a balanced diet in them and fish need nothing else, you must feed the correct type of food for the relevant temps as fish in cold water below 10 degrees will only need wheat germ food but tropical fish need higher protien food to maintain health and colour, as the temps rise so does the fishes metabolism

andy

Tiggs

no harm in doing that...mine love them (i control algae with means other than some sucky fish!)

ajm

What kind of algae eaters? Plecs?

It depends on how much naturally occurring algae there is. My plecs actually do fine from eating just the algae on the bits of wood (which they like rasping) in the tank, but they will have a go at bits of food left over from feeding the other fish. They will also take catfish pellets and other sinking pellets if its in the right place. Pop a few algae wafers in and see if they take them. If the natural algae starts coming back then you know you can cut back on the feeding a bit.

IPALMER

iTrader: (5)

try these

ScoobywagonGl

crikey all confusing stuff ...
ok I have ...
1 silver shark, 1 red finned tailed shark, 1 blue tailed guppy, 2 assorted mollys, 1 green platy, 1 sunshine platy, 1 plec, 1 peppered catfish, 2 algae eaters and 1 neon.
all in correct temp and use aquarian tropical flake food. have given live bloodworm as a treat and have cucumber in there for them aswell! also have daphine to give as a treat aswell!
should i be using anything else?
am a bit of a beginner but learning and already managed to poison the water before i had any fish!

mj

double post..

mj

plecs are mega fish,always had a soft spot for these, very prehistoric to look at:

ScoobywagonGl

he is really nice! saw a south american catfish on a webby but couldnt find him in the shop looked like a zebra! am getting there slowly. already had one death my plec is currently attatched to the cucumber! seems to spend a lot of time there!
these eat algae aswell?

ScoobywagonGl

Oh and another question is there any colourful fish i can get? i have a few with orange on them but you cant beat a bit of colour! and my local aquatics dont seem to do many colourful ones apart from guppys which even then are mainly yellow!
if i could afford a marine set up i would be into that like a shot!

mj

Firemouth Chiclids are pretty easy to keep, and are lovely to look at under the right lighting. You need to be careful what you put them in with though, also east to breed IIRC.

it depends what you want to see, If I got back into keeping fish I'd like a nice shoal of Tiger barbs, mint little things...

ScoobywagonGl

Ok like the look of them! i was told by aquatics that i need to stick to yellow labels lol which were community fish! so thats what i have been sticking with not knowing anything else!
Quite like them discus but need a bigger tank for one of them and was told the temp has to be higher so might not be good with rest of my fish think i'll stick with easy ones for now ...

Pirahnas now thats something i wouldn't mind pepperami anyone?

ajm

Now we're talking! I currently have 8 piranha (nattereri and caribe) at about 6-7 inches (soon to be nine if I manage to pick up the 10" ternetzi variant I am currently trying to buy )

Be warned though, they are high maintenance fish. They are territorial and need a lot of space, can be very highly strung and nervous and will not tolerate sharing a tank with fish outside their own genus!

ScoobywagonGl

so what sort of size tank for 10 pirahnas? and when you say high maintenance? got any pics? sorry i know off topic but am interested and its my own thread in hijacking

ajm

You should budget for at least 20 US gallons per adult fish. My 8 are currently in a 100 gal. tank (400ltr) and are getting cramped. I am moving them soon into a 350 gal tank and am hoping to add a few pygocentrus piraya to complete the pygocentrus collection!

By high maintenance I mean that you need to put a lot of work into keeping them. For example they need a regular and varied diet of preferably fresh fish, prawns, heart etc. I feed mine once every two days and if you let them get too hungry they will get more aggressive with each other. I am changing up to 200 litres of water a week due to the very high bioload they produce ('cos they eat so much!) and filters have to be much larger capacity than normally specified for the tank size. I have 800 litres worth of biomedia in my filter for the 400 litre tank. They frequently have scraps with each other, especially when on heat (yes they really get the blob! ) and you have to run a hospital tank in case one gets too badly wounded. When scared they will go absolutely mental. Whereas most fish will ignore you piranha will watch you intently - it varies from fish to fish but generally they are not chilled out fish so you have to make provision for that.


There are some pics/vids in some of my previous threads:

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=243195
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=322038

JamieMacdonald

Hi Tams. I've got some Sunset Platys which I think are pretty colourful - this is what they look like: http://gallery.puddingbowl.org/album...3400.thumb.jpg

I've also bought a plec recently, it is a bristle-nose which looks really weird, didn't know I could feed it cucumber though!

Jay

ScoobywagonGl

Jay,
Not sure what plec mine is but he is ace! glad i bought him even if he is quite big! although expecting him to grow even bigger I was told about the cucumber by a mate, apparently you can buy lead to weigh the cucumber down from aquatics. failing that i have seen on ebay they sell screwcumbers which also weigh it down! have also been told to try lettuce and peas which some people put in but havent tried these as im still a beginner.
Can't see your pic just comes up with a site telling me to use someone elses bandwidth I have one sunshine platy and one green platy which look quite cool my sunshine one looks like a fruit salad deffo recommend a bit of cucumber though mine go crazy for it!
AJM - Ty for info on pirahnas they look well ace! although dont think i'll be giving them a go just yet! LOL

PG

350 gal

200 ltr per week ! now that is a water change !!

ajm

The tank I am going to have made is 8ft x 2ft x 3ft, although I may go for 8x2x2.5 (300 US Gal) instead... need to measure up a few things first!

It doesn't always need all 200 ltrs, it depends on the Nitrate levels and how much syphoning the gravel takes to clean. To do the water change I use a big 200 ltr water butt, a 300w heater and a pond pump! Its great for mixing the water with conditioner and heating to the same temperature as the tank so when it goes in it minimises stress on the fish. Syphon out the old water straight down the drain with a gravel vac, then pump the fresh water straight in!

ScoobywagonGl

sounds like a lot of hard work your putting in! not sure i would have the time with a 2 year old, a fussy playful cat and pirahnas! still would stop them putting their hands/paws in i guess LOL