Any suggestions of alage eaters???

KendraMc

... i was under the impression that plecos in general would get territorial with others of their own kind/similar species...

Andarial

I'm not sure, if you get a breeding pair I think it'd be fine, or two females (though not positive on that) ,though I have heard of people keeping Bristlenoses together without issues though I have no idea what gender they were

Groovysunflowers

From the research Ive done, Plecos are pretty difficult to sex, as they don't normally have external factors such as mollies and platties do. Sometimes they say females will have a rounder nose or stuff like that, but you can never really be too sure.



I think these plecos are beautiful, if you're able to find them anywhere. Also -be sure to know what type of "algae eater" you have, whether it's Siamese or Chinese. Chinese algae eaters do not, in fact, prefer algae in their diet. they may eat algae as juveniles, but will grow up to prefer flake food, and are agressive. If you have an aggressive tank, its best to either buy in groups of 5 or as a single member. I have a single juvenile in my tank right now with plenty of hiding spots and he hasnt shown any territorial behavior, so im lucky for now. But if you like the way they look, I suggest getting a lot of Otocinclus. They are very similar in looks and size, and can tolerate a wide range of water parameters. They are best in groups as well.

*EDIT: I got my information backwards. Chinese algae eaters can tolerate a wide parameter of water, the Ottos cannot. Ottos are peaceful fish, best kept in a group of 3 or more.
Oto Catfish (if you'd like to read about them)
And the image i attached is a Starlight Pleco, available as BN

Andarial

Bristlenoses are easier to sex than most plecos, but if you want to do oto cats they would be good too ^^ you just need established algae in the tank to start off with because usually you will lose some or most of them if you don't considering they are wild caught and usually don't start off eating algae discs in the beginning, but remember they only eat specific kinds of algae, brown diatoms or common green algae, also its best if you have a planted tank because they thrive in that situation. And even though you only need a group of three with your size tank you should probably get five or more I would think just because of the amount of space they have to clean and they would be happier with more. They only grow to be like 1.5 inches I think at the most.

broujos

thanks guys, but my black ghost knife will eat Oto Catfish i think :(... about bn plecos... do you think that they will deal problems with my angelfish and bgkf ??? thanks!

Jbrofish8

I think he was referring to siamese algae eaters. At least I think...since at the start of this post he told him to get more SAE's.

Jbrofish8

how big is your knife?

My mom has a 90g with a gold knife and she has about 5 otos in that tank. Her knife is very unusual though and doesn't act like most knife fish. He actually feeds at the surface with the other fish in the tank, and RARELY hides at all. Hes out and about most of the day.. which I find really odd since I was under the impression that knife fish were very shy. Haha.