Algae Eater With Senegal Polypterus

[the_evil_duboisi]

What kind of algae eater could I have with a polypterus BESIDES ancistrus? Sorry, but I've had terrible luck with mine, and I am, to be honest, a bit bored of their looks(Sorry....the rest is a long story...I simply don't like them much anymore )

So I am thinking of using a different fish as an algae eater.....What should I use? I don't think Garra ornata would work, givin their shape or size.....But how about another kind of pleco? What kind of pleco could stay small, but not too small, eat a wide variety of foods(Which mine never seem to do), eat algae very well, and look nice(Not to expensice either!)? At first I though adinis, but I read they grew big....

I hope somebody could help me....I love my tank but it always gets so much algae that I need algae eaters to keep it in check.

 

[nmonks]

I do get to say this an awful lot both in print and on forums -- but you don't need to add an algae eater to a freshwater aquarium! Neither will an algae eater make your aquarium miraculously cleaner. Adding a fish -- any fish -- increases the rate at which nitrate and phosphate accumulate in the water per unit time, and that's what promotes the growth of algae.

This is why invertebrates like nerite snails and shrimps work so much better as algae controllers in planted tanks: they put a far smaller strain on water quality. Nerite snails could work rather well, being far too heavily armoured to be eaten by small Polypterus spp.

In any case, use a scraper or sponge. Wipe the tank as required. Siphon out organic detritus and uneaten food as frequently as possible -- the less decay, the less nitrate and phosphate in the water. Better still, increase the amount of lighting and plant with fast-growing species. As is now established beyond doubt, the more fast-growing plants, the less algae you get in the tank through a process of allelopathy. Almost always, tanks with diatom and hair algae problems are dimly-lit tanks with too much nitrate and phosphate and not enough plant growth to restore the proper balance.

Cheers, Neale

 

[the_evil_duboisi]

Okay. I guess increasing tank lights and adding more plants would help-The lightning is low and the only plants are slow-growing anubias!

I guess I could change the question; What kind of pleco could be kept with my senegal besides ancistrus?

 

[nmonks]

Pretty well any loricariid above 15 cm would be fine with small, non-aggressive Polypterus. As stated, adding the extra fish will only make your algae problems worse though, so don't delude yourself for a moment into thinking that adding a big, messy, herbivorous fish will somehow keep the tank clean.

Among the better loricariids you might consider would be species of Panaque like the Royal Plec L027; some of the medium to large Baryancistrus like the Gold Nugget L081; Pseudacanthicus such as the Scarlet Plec L024 if you have the space (though these don't eat algae); or Hypostomus such as the rusty plec L077. Big whiptails are also an option, though these don't eat any algae at all and can't be combined with aggressive or nippy tankmates. Loricaria cataphracta L062 and Pseudohemiodon apithanos are both spectacular, gregarious fish that appreciate sand and leaf litter.

You could of course go with Synodontis, which would be far more authentic than loricariids.

Cheers, Neale

 

[beblondie]

Algae control in a Polypterid tank
There are some 200,000 plus species of algae existing in the world today
and sooner or later you will have a visit from at least one of them.Why
you ask? There can be one reason or several in combination.

CAUSES
Too many fish
Poor plant growth
Overfeeding
Accumilation of waste
Excess nutrients(overfertilization)
Too high nitrate levels combined with excess phosphate
Lighting of wrong intensity or unfavorable wavelength

PREVENTION
Use healthy fast growing plants
learn to properly feed the fish
regular maintenence to prevent build up waste
regular water changes
replacing lights especially flourescents(yearly)
water testing

CURING
Algaecides
Common ingredients to almost all commercial algaecides are either copper
or simazine both are toxic to fish and higher plant life.The dosage needed to kill
algae without harming fish or higher plants is hard if not impossible to determine.
Dying algae may releas toxins into the water or its decomposition may deplete oxygen
from the water and cause an amonia spike.

Water clearing agents
Flocculents should not be used in tanks with fish.Flocculents are positively
charged compounds that bind negatively charged particules so they bind together
and fall out of solution resulting in clearing.Since algae cells are negatively
charged Flocculents will clear green water.
Theres a possible problem tho,the gill surfaces of fish also carry a negative
charge.The Flocculentscan bind the gill filaments together destroying the gill
structure.
The use of UV sterilizer will only have effect green water they are costly
to buy and run,they also tend to add heat to the water,plus the bulbs need
monthly cleaning and replacing yearly.

FAST GROWING PLANTS
The idea here is using higher plant forms to outcompete algae for nutrients
The below list has the plants name first followed by lighting requirement
and finally ideal *temperature ranges.(see note 1)

1.5-2 watts of lighting per gallon=low to medium light levels
2-2.5 watts of lighting per gallon=medium to high light levels
2.5-3 watts of lighting per gallon=high to very high light levels
Azolla africanas (tropical Africa)
Azolla nilotica (Eastern africa)
Azolla pinnata (africa)
Azolla filiculoides 9Africa
Salvinia natans (Northern Africa)
Ricciocarpus natans (cosmopolitan)
Ricca fluitans (cosmopolitan)
Lemna gibba (cosmopolitan)
Lemna pauciocostata (cosompolitan)
Lemna minor (cosmopolitan)
Lemna Angolensis (cosmopolitan)
Wolffia arrhiza (middle and south africa)
TRUE FLOATING PLANTS
Eichhornia crassipes (egypt)
Eichhornia natans (africa)
Trappa natans (eastern africa)
Utricularia vulgaris (north africa)
Utricularia platytera (nigeria)
Utricularia neottioides (africa)
Utricularia stellaris (africa)
Utricularia flexousa (africa)
Utricularia foliosa (africa)
Utricularia exoleta (africa)
Utricularia gibba (africa)
Utricularia neglecta (africa)
Najas minor (africa)
Najas pectinata (africa)
Najas falciculata (africa)
Najas graminea (africa)
Aponogeton crispus-(medium-high)-(77-89F)
Aponogeton ulvaceus-(medium-high)-(71-80F)
Ceratophyllum demersum-(medium-high)-(71-82F)
Ceratophyllum submersum-(medium-high)-(71-82F)
Ceratopteris comuta-(medium)-(71-82F)
Ceratopteris thalictroides-(medium)-(71-82F)
Echinodorus bleheri-(medium)-(71-82F)
Echinodorus osiris-(medium-high)-(64-79F)
Echinodorus parviflorus-(medium)-68-79F)
Echinodorus quadricostatus-(medium-high)-(72-82F)
Hydrocotyle leucocephala-(low-medium)-(68-82F)
Hygrophila corymbosa-(low-medium)-(75-82F)
Hygrophila diffomis-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Hygrophila polysperma-(low-medium)-(71-82)
Ludwigia palustris x repens-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Ludwigia repens-(medium)-(71-78F)
Rotala rotundifolia-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Sagittaria sublata-(medium-high)-(64-82F)
Vallisneria americana-(low-medium)-(71-78F)
Vallisneria spiralis-(low-medium)-(68-82F)

The use of fish.
live bearers such as swordtails,mollies and platys won't work
in a Polypterid tank as they would most likely end up as snacks as would
members of the Otocinclus family.
Some memebers of the Loricariidae,trichomycterid catfishes often develop a taste for
slimecoat this is not a desirable trait.
So if the most commonly know algae eaters won't work and chemicals are not
good to use in a planted tank.What to do?
Below are 2 lists of fish known to eat algae.
List one.Rift lake cichlids the following species are know to eat algae
in nature and are reported to be among the less agressive cichlids from Africa.
two caveats.Caveat 1 for this to be sucessful do not overfeed (fish can go 2 weeks)
between feedings with no ill effects.
Caveat 2 avoid breeding pairs of these cichlids as they can become very agressive and
territorial during mating and rearing of fry.
List#2 the catfishes mostly plecos.I tried to find ones that were reported as vegatarian as
possible.those reported as omnivore or carrion eaters were left off the list

List#1 CICHLIDS
This is by no means a complete list of possibilities but I feel its a good starting point
for you to do research from.Some of the below might be hard to find localy this is where
online sellers and also the American Cichlid Association should be helpful.
Astatotilipia burtoni-Burton mouth-brooder(males 4.5 inches)
Astatotilipia brownae-Browns Mouthbroder-((4.5")
Astatotilipia Nubia-(5")
Cheilochromis euchilus-Big-lipped-chcilid (12")
Ophthalmotilipia ventralis(6")
Ophthalmotilipia boops-(5")
Anomalchromis thomasi-African butterfly cichlid (males 4")
Pseudotropheus tropheops-Golden tropheops-(6")
Pseudotropheus barlowi-(6")
Oreochromis mossambicus-Mozambique Mouth-broooder (4-15.5")
Oreochromis niloticus baringoensis-Baringo Nile Tilipia-(12-14")
Oreochromis niloticus niloticus-Nile tilapia-(12-14")
Oreochromis pangani pangani-(20")
Oreochromis spilurus niger-(12")
Oreochromis spilurus spilurus-(20")
Oreochromis tanganicae-(15")
Tilipia mariae -(12.5")
Tilipia sparmanii-Sparmans tilapia-(8")
Tilipia guinasana-Guinastilipia-(7")
Tropheus duboisi -White-spotted chiclid(4.5")
Tropheus moorii-(6")
Tropheus polli-(6")
Tropheus brichardi-Blue-Eyed Tropheus-(4.5")
Neochromis nigricans-(4.5")
Petrochromis famula-(6")
Petrochromis orthognathus-(6")
Pseudosimochromis curvifrons-Thick-headed pseudosimchromis-(7")
Sarotherodon melagaster-Black-throat tilipia-(8")
Sarotherodon galilaeus-(15")
Sarotherodon lohbergeri-(8")
Asprotilipia leptura-(4.5")
Maravichromis formosus-(5.5")
Haplochromis taeniolata-Spindle hap-(5")
Steatocranus irvinei-(6")
Thorichthys socoloff-(5")
Cyprichromis pavo-(6")

List#2 CATFISHES
Acanthodoras cataphractus-(4")
Amblydoras hancocki-(6")
Platydoras costatus-(8")
Ancistrus dolichopterus-(4.5")
Ancistrus adonis-(30+")
Ancistrus lamboensis-(6")
Panaque nigrolineatus-(9.5")
Panaque suttonorum-Blue-eyed plecostomus-(7")
Peckoltia vittata-(4-5")
Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps-(19")
Glyptoperichthys punctatus-Spotted sailfin pleco-(7")
Rineloricaria fallax-(4.5")
Chaetostoma sp.-Bulldog Catfish-(9.5")
Liposarcus anisitsi-Snow king sailfin pleco-(17")
Synodontis alberti-(6")
Synodontis angelicus-(22")
Hoplostermum thoracatum-(8")
Hemiancistrus annectens-(8")
Hemiancistrus landoni-(9")
Isorineloricaria spinosissima-Spiny suckermouth catfish-(12")
Loricaria nickernsis-Nickerie suckermouth-(6")
Baryancistrus sp.-(L18,L81,L177)-(6.5")
Leporacanthicus galaxias-Galactial suckermouth-(13")

Watch for any signs of slimesucking and seperate the offending party immediately
while slime removal is bad enough its the plecos rasping teeth delaminating the
bichirs scales thats the real concern

*note#1 up or down a degree or two is fine

 

[Dave Ehl]

Algae control in a Polypterid tank
There are some 200,000 plus species of algae existing in the world today
and sooner or later you will have a visit from at least one of them.Why
you ask? There can be one reason or several in combination.

CAUSES
Too many fish
Poor plant growth
Overfeeding
Accumilation of waste
Excess nutrients(overfertilization)
Too high nitrate levels combined with excess phosphate
Lighting of wrong intensity or unfavorable wavelength

PREVENTION
Use healthy fast growing plants
learn to properly feed the fish
regular maintenence to prevent build up waste
regular water changes
replacing lights especially flourescents(yearly)
water testing

CURING
Algaecides
Common ingredients to almost all commercial algaecides are either copper
or simazine both are toxic to fish and higher plant life.The dosage needed to kill
algae without harming fish or higher plants is hard if not impossible to determine.
Dying algae may releas toxins into the water or its decomposition may deplete oxygen
from the water and cause an amonia spike.

Water clearing agents
Flocculents should not be used in tanks with fish.Flocculents are positively
charged compounds that bind negatively charged particules so they bind together
and fall out of solution resulting in clearing.Since algae cells are negatively
charged Flocculents will clear green water.
Theres a possible problem tho,the gill surfaces of fish also carry a negative
charge.The Flocculentscan bind the gill filaments together destroying the gill
structure.
The use of UV sterilizer will only have effect green water they are costly
to buy and run,they also tend to add heat to the water,plus the bulbs need
monthly cleaning and replacing yearly.

FAST GROWING PLANTS
The idea here is using higher plant forms to outcompete algae for nutrients
The below list has the plants name first followed by lighting requirement
and finally ideal *temperature ranges.(see note 1)

1.5-2 watts of lighting per gallon=low to medium light levels
2-2.5 watts of lighting per gallon=medium to high light levels
2.5-3 watts of lighting per gallon=high to very high light levels
Azolla africanas (tropical Africa)
Azolla nilotica (Eastern africa)
Azolla pinnata (africa)
Azolla filiculoides 9Africa
Salvinia natans (Northern Africa)
Ricciocarpus natans (cosmopolitan)
Ricca fluitans (cosmopolitan)
Lemna gibba (cosmopolitan)
Lemna pauciocostata (cosompolitan)
Lemna minor (cosmopolitan)
Lemna Angolensis (cosmopolitan)
Wolffia arrhiza (middle and south africa)
TRUE FLOATING PLANTS
Eichhornia crassipes (egypt)
Eichhornia natans (africa)
Trappa natans (eastern africa)
Utricularia vulgaris (north africa)
Utricularia platytera (nigeria)
Utricularia neottioides (africa)
Utricularia stellaris (africa)
Utricularia flexousa (africa)
Utricularia foliosa (africa)
Utricularia exoleta (africa)
Utricularia gibba (africa)
Utricularia neglecta (africa)
Najas minor (africa)
Najas pectinata (africa)
Najas falciculata (africa)
Najas graminea (africa)
Aponogeton crispus-(medium-high)-(77-89F)
Aponogeton ulvaceus-(medium-high)-(71-80F)
Ceratophyllum demersum-(medium-high)-(71-82F)
Ceratophyllum submersum-(medium-high)-(71-82F)
Ceratopteris comuta-(medium)-(71-82F)
Ceratopteris thalictroides-(medium)-(71-82F)
Echinodorus bleheri-(medium)-(71-82F)
Echinodorus osiris-(medium-high)-(64-79F)
Echinodorus parviflorus-(medium)-68-79F)
Echinodorus quadricostatus-(medium-high)-(72-82F)
Hydrocotyle leucocephala-(low-medium)-(68-82F)
Hygrophila corymbosa-(low-medium)-(75-82F)
Hygrophila diffomis-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Hygrophila polysperma-(low-medium)-(71-82)
Ludwigia palustris x repens-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Ludwigia repens-(medium)-(71-78F)
Rotala rotundifolia-(medium-high)-(75-82F)
Sagittaria sublata-(medium-high)-(64-82F)
Vallisneria americana-(low-medium)-(71-78F)
Vallisneria spiralis-(low-medium)-(68-82F)

The use of fish.
live bearers such as swordtails,mollies and platys won't work
in a Polypterid tank as they would most likely end up as snacks as would
members of the Otocinclus family.
Some memebers of the Loricariidae,trichomycterid catfishes often develop a taste for
slimecoat this is not a desirable trait.
So if the most commonly know algae eaters won't work and chemicals are not
good to use in a planted tank.What to do?
Below are 2 lists of fish known to eat algae.
List one.Rift lake cichlids the following species are know to eat algae
in nature and are reported to be among the less agressive cichlids from Africa.
two caveats.Caveat 1 for this to be sucessful do not overfeed (fish can go 2 weeks)
between feedings with no ill effects.
Caveat 2 avoid breeding pairs of these cichlids as they can become very agressive and
territorial during mating and rearing of fry.
List#2 the catfishes mostly plecos.I tried to find ones that were reported as vegatarian as
possible.those reported as omnivore or carrion eaters were left off the list

List#1 CICHLIDS
This is by no means a complete list of possibilities but I feel its a good starting point
for you to do research from.Some of the below might be hard to find localy this is where
online sellers and also the American Cichlid Association should be helpful.
Astatotilipia burtoni-Burton mouth-brooder(males 4.5 inches)
Astatotilipia brownae-Browns Mouthbroder-((4.5")
Astatotilipia Nubia-(5")
Cheilochromis euchilus-Big-lipped-chcilid (12")
Ophthalmotilipia ventralis(6")
Ophthalmotilipia boops-(5")
Anomalchromis thomasi-African butterfly cichlid (males 4")
Pseudotropheus tropheops-Golden tropheops-(6")
Pseudotropheus barlowi-(6")
Oreochromis mossambicus-Mozambique Mouth-broooder (4-15.5")
Oreochromis niloticus baringoensis-Baringo Nile Tilipia-(12-14")
Oreochromis niloticus niloticus-Nile tilapia-(12-14")
Oreochromis pangani pangani-(20")
Oreochromis spilurus niger-(12")
Oreochromis spilurus spilurus-(20")
Oreochromis tanganicae-(15")
Tilipia mariae -(12.5")
Tilipia sparmanii-Sparmans tilapia-(8")
Tilipia guinasana-Guinastilipia-(7")
Tropheus duboisi -White-spotted chiclid(4.5")
Tropheus moorii-(6")
Tropheus polli-(6")
Tropheus brichardi-Blue-Eyed Tropheus-(4.5")
Neochromis nigricans-(4.5")
Petrochromis famula-(6")
Petrochromis orthognathus-(6")
Pseudosimochromis curvifrons-Thick-headed pseudosimchromis-(7")
Sarotherodon melagaster-Black-throat tilipia-(8")
Sarotherodon galilaeus-(15")
Sarotherodon lohbergeri-(8")
Asprotilipia leptura-(4.5")
Maravichromis formosus-(5.5")
Haplochromis taeniolata-Spindle hap-(5")
Steatocranus irvinei-(6")
Thorichthys socoloff-(5")
Cyprichromis pavo-(6")

List#2 CATFISHES
Acanthodoras cataphractus-(4")
Amblydoras hancocki-(6")
Platydoras costatus-(8")
Ancistrus dolichopterus-(4.5")
Ancistrus adonis-(30+")
Ancistrus lamboensis-(6")
Panaque nigrolineatus-(9.5")
Panaque suttonorum-Blue-eyed plecostomus-(7")
Peckoltia vittata-(4-5")
Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps-(19")
Glyptoperichthys punctatus-Spotted sailfin pleco-(7")
Rineloricaria fallax-(4.5")
Chaetostoma sp.-Bulldog Catfish-(9.5")
Liposarcus anisitsi-Snow king sailfin pleco-(17")
Synodontis alberti-(6")
Synodontis angelicus-(22")
Hoplostermum thoracatum-(8")
Hemiancistrus annectens-(8")
Hemiancistrus landoni-(9")
Isorineloricaria spinosissima-Spiny suckermouth catfish-(12")
Loricaria nickernsis-Nickerie suckermouth-(6")
Baryancistrus sp.-(L18,L81,L177)-(6.5")
Leporacanthicus galaxias-Galactial suckermouth-(13")

Watch for any signs of slimesucking and seperate the offending party immediately
while slime removal is bad enough its the plecos rasping teeth delaminating the
bichirs scales thats the real concern

*note#1 up or down a degree or two is fine

wow. that must be the most complete post I've ever seen!