What to do with my Chinese Algae Eater?
 

My first tank, when I was very uneducated, came with a Chinese Algae Eater, whom I'm very attached to. He's actually not been to bad so far, even though he's close to 6". I currently keep him in a tank with guppies, and he's fine with them. They'll even nip at him if he's being annoying! They know not to go in his cave, or steal his food, and although he occasionally chases them off, he's never actually laid a (fin?) on any of them. He's even fine with the guppy fry.

However, he does display more aggression than any of my other fish. I know he's continuing to grow up, and will become more territorial and aggressive, so I need a long term plan.

Would he be okay in a community tank if it was large enough, and heavily planted? Has anyone heard of them working well with dwarf puffers? I plan on setting up a puffer tank in the next month or so. How about ropefish? That's another kind of tank I've been considering, and if he got on well, that would be another reason to do it. The last option, would he be alright in a 10 gallon by himself, or is that just too cruel? Will he grow too large for that tank?

Sorry for the novel. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

i dont know much about them so i dont know if he would be ok with ropefish or puffers but i think that putting him with another fish in a large tank like that would be better than only a 10 gal by himself.

your long term plan should be
a tank that is at least 48 inches long with a width of at least 18 inches (height can be as little as 10 inches and as much as 30 inches).
the flow rate should be at least 10 times the tanks volume.
the substrate could be anything from sand to up to cobblestones and provide lots of hidey holes and sparse planting or no plants.

basically you should be considering setting up a river tank and housing him with other river fish (HSL, danios, rasboras, botias etc).

avoid any deep bodied fish, such as angels, discus or even bleeding hearts, as he will graze on their slime coats.

proud owner of a 9 inch specimen
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../random008.jpg

nice fish 8)

Ooh, thanks! Great excuse to set up a new tank :P

I'll probably end up going for a 45G long. I love thematic tanks. Yay for new tanks!

BTW, that's a beautiful fish. Mine is an albino, here's a pic from him in my first tank setup, he's just about doubled in size, I need new pictures!

http://www.fishforum.com/userpix/3816_IMG_3942_2_1.jpg

aww how cute :wink:

technically the golden forms are Xanthic.
true albinos have no melanin in the eyes, thus making them appear pink

I used to have a golden one ans s/he lived for about 4 months with my bichirs, I was a novice back then and didn't realise a 6inch CAE would become a snack for bichirs :(

hi
i had a couple of thoses years ago,i gave them away,
with a tank that i was getting rid of,can't say that
i was sorry to see them go,however that was my own fault
for having them in with the wrong fish.
the words "research" still ring through my ears.lol
The-Wolf... that is a fine looking fish you have there. :)

sorry to hear that. at least the one you have now is fine. :wink:

How about freshwater flounder? It'd be another cool addition to a river tank. Would they get along?