Anyone Here Prefere Chinese Algie Eaters To Common Plecs?

[sylvia]

Yes they would absolutely be territorial towards each other and one would almost inevitably kill the other eventualy. CAEs are a no-no for a community and even the one you have now is likely to eventualy cause trouble. What sorts of cichlids do you have? Note that CAEs STOP EATING ALGAE as adults - so there's absolutely no point getting more of these to tackle an algae problem!

Get yourself a bunch of bristlenoses. They are mildly territorial but, as long as your tank's big enough, a few will co-exist quite happily.

 

[chibi]

I have a CAE that's about 2 years old. He's about 4 inches long and isn't very aggressive. However, he did help kill my sickly molly. He latched onto him and ate his slime coat off, and the poor molly died. I've never had a pleco. If housed with cichlids, he should be fine. I personally want to get rid of my CAE because he's getting a bit too big for my tank and is a bit too active for my peaceful little livebearers. He doesn't eat much algae, either.

Oh, and forgot to answer your question! CAE coincide with each other fine. They shouldn't fight. I had three together once, and they all did fine. No problems.

 

[Garbage]

Yes they would absolutely be territorial towards each other and one would almost inevitably kill the other eventualy. CAEs are a no-no for a community and even the one you have now is likely to eventualy cause trouble. What sorts of cichlids do you have? Note that CAEs STOP EATING ALGAE as adults - so there's absolutely no point getting more of these to tackle an algae problem!

Get yourself a bunch of bristlenoses. They are mildly territorial but, as long as your tank's big enough, a few will co-exist quite happily.

I clean the glass myself, Im not too concerned with algie, I like them mainly because they cover the ground really well, get all the left over food that makes it past the other fish.

I have a CAE that's about 2 years old. He's about 4 inches long and isn't very aggressive. However, he did help kill my sickly molly. He latched onto him and ate his slime coat off, and the poor molly died. I've never had a pleco. If housed with cichlids, he should be fine. I personally want to get rid of my CAE because he's getting a bit too big for my tank and is a bit too active for my peaceful little livebearers. He doesn't eat much algae, either.

Oh, and forgot to answer your question! CAE coincide with each other fine. They shouldn't fight. I had three together once, and they all did fine. No problems.

I wish you lived closer to me Id take the little guy off your hands for you Thanx for the advice as well!

 

[Rhiannon]

I had one once, over here in Australia they are sold in every pet store, every aquarium with the name "sucking catfish" and they dont tell you they are going to grow so big and are nasty when older.

I personally think they are ugly with their big sucker mouths and dont have any pretty colour to them at all, I much prefer my BN, he is adorabale and works very hard in my tank.

Its up to you though, but please take peoples advice about the aggression issues when in groups.

And if you want something to pick up the left over food, Cory's and Apple snails are fantastic for this.

 

[Bignose]

I'm almost stunned that no one has mentioned the fish that is similar to CAE, the SAE Siamese Algae Eater. They do not become aggressive, they max out at around 5 inches, eat almost all types of algae, and since the OP likes the looks of his CAEs, the SAEs are pretty similar.

 

[aconnoll]

My two CAEs are only around 2-3 inches and have cleaned my diatom infested tank (bogwood was covered) in around 2-3 days... I have found if they have decent hiding places (my bogwood is perfect for this) where they can claim a certain part of the territory then they seem to be fine. but id say only fast moving fish would be fine in with them. Im sure this will change over time as they grow but for the meanwhile they are extremely effective for me. I personally think the little critters are cute! And when im ready to start a large cichlid tank they will be in there for sure. On the down side though, all they seem to do is CONSTANTLY poop... im pretty pedandict re: gravel vac'ing their waste.

 

[LisaLQ]

He's about 4 inches long and isn't very aggressive. However, he did help kill my sickly molly. He latched onto him and ate his slime coat off, and the poor molly died.

Sorry, just thought that was a funny how you contradicted yourself in the space of a couple of sentences lol. Bet that molly thought he was aggressive

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

i had a CAE once. he was in with a common plecostomus and they seemed to get along. my CAE was about 5/6 inches long. he looked extremely strong and was super fast. i also got rid of my pleco because of the mess but i recently got a new one and again realising why i got rid of the first one. CAE's are awsome fish but do tend to get a little aggressive. chasing fish for no reason at all. thankfully mine never killed a fish.
in a cichlid tank he should be controlled lol when i took mine to my lfs, the guy in there knew exactly where to put him as soon as he saw him. there where 2 or 3 big cichlids in one tank and thats where he went and seemed to be fine and not bothering the other fishes.
but yea, i wouldnt put anymore than one in the tank unless they're small and you have somewhere to put the others once you start to get problems

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

My main advice would be to never put CAE's together.
My second advice would be to never mix them with flat bodied fish (like angels and gouramis), and other bottom dwelling fish.

I've had of CAE's attacking a wide variety of fish, and i know they can do this from experience as well- my old CAE went for everything from mollys and platys to corys etc. The only fish which i would say are safe to put with them in the long term are small identical shoaling fish like neon and harlequin tetras or fish like danio's which are very fast and active and which the CAE is not likely to take interest it (even if it did, a danio would easily be able to out-swim it, they also have good agility), and perhaps critters like shrimp and large snails.

 

[bennett418]

I have found that the golden CAE is alot more aggresive than the brown coloured one? anyone else?

I had a plec but took it back to lfs as didnt no they got that big when bought it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I have found that the golden CAE is alot more aggresive than the brown coloured one? anyone else?

I had a plec but took it back to lfs as didnt no they got that big when bought it.

I never kept the natural coloured ones long enough to find out how agressive they could be, but my old golden CAE was a little horror of a fish from a young age.

 

[lozronz]

I wanna stand up for the CAE, I can understand why people have so many bad experiences with them, they are so often bunched in with the 'tank cleaners' by the LFS, they are pence to buy and IMO pretty fish when they are small. They must be one of the most abundantly mis-sold fish in the industry.

My friend bought three for his tank the other day he is very new to the hobby and was totally wrongly informed, he was told they were SAE not CAE, that they were less problematic than gibs because of size and mess and that they were totally community! He won't take them back at the moment and thought I was being dramatic when I told him he would have probs. He will probably be fine for a year.

I have two CAE in two different tanks, In the right tank I think that they can have a lot of character, I keep my gold 6" CAE in a tank with a Jewel Cichlid and a very aggressive 7" clawed shrimp they all work well together and he has never even been fin nipped he seems very hardy and is still a very profficient tank cleaner but when he was in a community tank he was a nightmare.

the other CAE I am baby sitting whist my buddy goes travelling. he is natural colours, much smaller and was a pain until i did a shuffle around and put him with middle and upper level fish now he seems fine but I'm glad he will be going back soon because I think he would become a problem.

Never keep them with frogs (ACFs or ADFs) they love their slime.

I think that the pros are that they are very hardy, lot of character, pretty when young, a 'tank cleaner' that will be seen by day, and can live along side very aggressive tank mates if big enough.

Cons- Get mis-sold and are often one of the first 'tank cleaners' people buy, not good with other bottom dwellers, opportunist feeders on sick fish and not so pretty when older... My housemate has nicknamed my golden CAE 'Penis fish' and I cant really defend it!!!!