Mary - 2012-01-05 Up until today I had had one for about 10 yrs..but he/she passed today..it would play with marbles on the tank floor...it would push one marble at a time across the gravel and line them all up and then start again at the beginning of the line up and take the first marble in line and push it all the way around the tank to the back of the line and start over with the next marble in line...lol...my daughter bought it and when she moved out of town I took her tank...so anyway...I was looking up to see if there was any info on how long the average life span of a CAE is but found none...so just thought Id mention how long this one had lived ...I dont know if 10 yrs is unusual or not...I read another post here that stated they had one that was 12 but no, they don't that long..that's some other type of fish entirely...
Melissa - 2011-12-26 My brother and I each bought one of these fishes, and right from the start I observed my Chinese algae eater harassing its tank mates, while the individual that my brother bought never bothered anyone... Despite this, I have kept mine for about 6 months now with comets, guppies, and swordtails without any disappearances or casualties. From time to time though some of the fish will have small nips in their fins.
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Charlie Roche - 2011-12-27 Different types of fish have different personalities but each fish has it's own personality. Sounds like yours wants to make sure everyone knows he is the top dog.
heather - 2011-03-17 I made the mistake of buying two of these fishes, the store said they would be fine in my community tank, over the last 2 days I have had all of my fish turn up dead. I don't want these things anymore and was wondering if they could survive in my grandmothers outside pool? I want to be able to own fish again.
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jimmy - 2011-06-10 Hi, I have 2 algae eaters. Each in their own tank with a female betta. The one algae stays on the bottom of the tank and the younger sits on plant leaves on top of the water. Part of the fish is out side of the water. This one swims next to the female betta like it has the hots for her. The other algae eater in the other tank stays away from the other female betta in that tank. Both tanks have pump water and same types of plants. I do not know it they are female or male AE's
Tiffany - 2011-05-05 I have 2 of these, one grey and black (2 in) and one golden (1.5 in). They live happily with my 4 red belly piranhas in a 55 gal. They seem to like a diet of algae and the meat left overs from the piranhas. They just had close to 50 fry, which was a little bit of a shocker to see a bunch of stuff floating in the water and then realizing they were fry. lol.
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Charlie Roche - 2011-05-05 Sounds like you are having fun.
Jeremy - 2011-03-26 I have one, I'm almost positive it has something inside of it. Maybe some sort of worm or parasite. Though I am not 100% positive. It may be the intestinal tract movements are just very noticeable. If it is a parasite I would like to probably replace with a regular good nature pleco. It seems that a lot of people experience a sort of bloating with this fish. Although it appears to be large, I want to attribute this to it's rapid growth in the past two weeks and it does not have raised scales as would be expected with stomach dropsy.
Tony - 2011-02-15 I recently purchased a small CAE. The tank is a 55 gal. It is only populated with 2 black mollies and the CAE at this time. The CAE has me a bit nervous. It seems to flop about more than swim, it will bury itself in the substrata and stay there head in the substrata wiggling about for some time. Does this seem normal to you other CAE owners, or should I be concerned about my fish's health?
Lithium - 2011-02-05 I have a CAE that I'm sure is pregnant and I can't seem to find anyone who knows how long these fish stay pregnant. I have a feeling that she's having trouble passing the eggs can anyone tell me how long they stay pregnant for?
Allis - 2011-01-16 Here's what I know of CAEs: We had a golden one in a 10 gal with a goldfish. Bad Idea. He attacked that poor goldfish everyday for months until I couldn't watch it anymore and fed the CAE to my turtle. At the same time, I had another in my 25gal. After seven years, he still resides there and is my favorite fish. He is five inches long now, and I expect him to get bigger. He chases the other fish away and sometimes attacks my angelfish, so I will have to move him to a bigger tank, but so far, so good. Be aware, CAEs need lots of plants, places to hide, and gravel to dig in. They need a big space (55gal or more) so they can have the territory they need to be happy. Mine is in a 25 now and is clearly too big to swim comfortably.
The Chinese Algae Eater is a workhorse when it comes to its job... eating algae!
Up until today I had had one for about 10 yrs..but he/she passed today..it would play with marbles on the tank floor...it would push one marble at a time across the gravel and line them all up and then start again at the beginning of the line up and take the first marble in line and push it all the way around the tank to the back of the line and start over with the next marble in line...lol...my daughter bought it and when she moved out of town I took her tank...so anyway...I was looking up to see if there was any info on how long the average life span of a CAE is but found none...so just thought Id mention how long this one had lived ...I dont know if 10 yrs is unusual or not...I read another post here that stated they had one that was 12 but no, they don't that long..that's some other type of fish entirely...
My brother and I each bought one of these fishes, and right from the start I observed my Chinese algae eater harassing its tank mates, while the individual that my brother bought never bothered anyone... Despite this, I have kept mine for about 6 months now with comets, guppies, and swordtails without any disappearances or casualties. From time to time though some of the fish will have small nips in their fins.
Different types of fish have different personalities but each fish has it's own personality. Sounds like yours wants to make sure everyone knows he is the top dog.
they work so fast its the only sucker fish that i get to clean my tank
They are exciting fish to have in an aquarium!
I made the mistake of buying two of these fishes, the store said they would be fine in my community tank, over the last 2 days I have had all of my fish turn up dead. I don't want these things anymore and was wondering if they could survive in my grandmothers outside pool? I want to be able to own fish again.
Hi, I have 2 algae eaters. Each in their own tank with a female betta. The one algae stays on the bottom of the tank and the younger sits on plant leaves on top of the water. Part of the fish is out side of the water. This one swims next to the female betta like it has the hots for her. The other algae eater in the other tank stays away from the other female betta in that tank. Both tanks have pump water and same types of plants. I do not know it they are female or male AE's
I have 2 of these, one grey and black (2 in) and one golden (1.5 in). They live happily with my 4 red belly piranhas in a 55 gal. They seem to like a diet of algae and the meat left overs from the piranhas. They just had close to 50 fry, which was a little bit of a shocker to see a bunch of stuff floating in the water and then realizing they were fry. lol.
Sounds like you are having fun.
I have one, I'm almost positive it has something inside of it. Maybe some sort of worm or parasite. Though I am not 100% positive. It may be the intestinal tract movements are just very noticeable. If it is a parasite I would like to probably replace with a regular good nature pleco. It seems that a lot of people experience a sort of bloating with this fish. Although it appears to be large, I want to attribute this to it's rapid growth in the past two weeks and it does not have raised scales as would be expected with stomach dropsy.
I recently purchased a small CAE. The tank is a 55 gal. It is only populated with 2 black mollies and the CAE at this time. The CAE has me a bit nervous. It seems to flop about more than swim, it will bury itself in the substrata and stay there head in the substrata wiggling about for some time. Does this seem normal to you other CAE owners, or should I be concerned about my fish's health?
I have a CAE that I'm sure is pregnant and I can't seem to find anyone who knows how long these fish stay pregnant. I have a feeling that she's having trouble passing the eggs can anyone tell me how long they stay pregnant for?
This fish eats slime coats end of story.
Just ask my dead Silver Dollars...
Here's what I know of CAEs: We had a golden one in a 10 gal with a goldfish. Bad Idea. He attacked that poor goldfish everyday for months until I couldn't watch it anymore and fed the CAE to my turtle. At the same time, I had another in my 25gal. After seven years, he still resides there and is my favorite fish. He is five inches long now, and I expect him to get bigger. He chases the other fish away and sometimes attacks my angelfish, so I will have to move him to a bigger tank, but so far, so good. Be aware, CAEs need lots of plants, places to hide, and gravel to dig in. They need a big space (55gal or more) so they can have the territory they need to be happy. Mine is in a 25 now and is clearly too big to swim comfortably.