Francis
Fish Fanatic
Is it safe to keep an eel in with an algea eating catfish, if so any suggestions?
Thanks,
Francis.
Thanks,
Francis.
Eel and Catfish.
- Thread starter Francis
- Start date
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Its kind of a vague question as there are thousands of types of algae eating catfish and eels, so first off how many gallons is your tank and does it have any other fish and is so, what and how many?
Yes, as Tokis says, Which eel and which catfish?
GuppyDude
Stephen
i can only think of 2 kinds of fresh water eels that he'd be able to get his hands on, there these lil black eels that appear pretty harmless, and then dragonfish, but im not sure if its accually an eel. most eels will not hunt you fish, an dif they do, they are too big to keep in anything under 100g anyway. what kind of alge eating catfish, plecos?
GuppyDude said:
Dragonfish aren't eels, they're gobies.
But he also might be refering to other eel-like fish such as the spiny eel family- fire eels, peacock eels, tire-track eels etc or perhaps he means Senegal Polypterus, sometimes called the Dinosaur Eel.
Maybe even g.tile a species of Moray eel that some stores sell (wrongly) as freshwater.
The options are endless!
Francis
Fish Fanatic
Its a 5x2x2 tank and the eel is a tyre track eel. Two blue acara cichlids are in with it. I don't know what type of catfish thats what i'm asking. Yeah by eel I mean eel like, I keep saying that sorry about the confusion.
Anyway Thanks,
Francis.
Anyway Thanks,
Francis.
smooth_bourbon
Fishaholic
hey francis how many eels do you have?
In answer to your original question then, Yes, an algae eating catfish- a Pleco would be fine with that eel.
There's over 400 species to choose from, but not all plecos eat algae. I think you might do best with a couple of bristlenose plecs.
A common plec makes a good algae water when small, but as they grow they often become lazy and stop eating algae.
There's over 400 species to choose from, but not all plecos eat algae. I think you might do best with a couple of bristlenose plecs.
A common plec makes a good algae water when small, but as they grow they often become lazy and stop eating algae.
Paul_MTS
MAD
oh some types of plecs you may find they will try and latch onto the eel in an attempt to suck there slime coating off.
the usually suspects for this are common plecs and sailfin plecs.
the usually suspects for this are common plecs and sailfin plecs.
GuppyDude
Stephen
my eel knowledge is limited to only 2 i guess 
if its not sold in a lfs i probably dont know a whole lot about it
if its not sold in a lfs i probably dont know a whole lot about it
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Paul_MTS said:
Never heard of a common or sailfin plec attacking any other fish in that sort of way, in fact from what i've heard of and what i've experienced over the last 9 or so months with mine, they are some of the most peaceful large plecs you could posibly get. The large majority of algae eating plecs do go off algae a bit as they start to reach their max size but in the case of common and sailfin plecs this usually takes about a year or 2 if you buy the plec at a couple of inchs long which is what most lfs's(local fish stores) sell them at.
A tank of your size would be great for a common or sailfin plec and many of them end up in tanks too small so its not hard to even find somone with an overgrown common or sailfin plec that needs rehoming- commons usually max out at 15inchs and sailfins get to about 2ft long max(although this can take years) and both can live for as many as 30yrs and are lovely fish. Its true they will often eat the carcass's of their dead tank mates as finding enough protein can be difficult for such large growing algae eating fish but i have never heard one killing another fish for food, they are scavengers not predators.
Although they are primarily algae eating fish and feeding them algae wafers is usually enough to substitute their diet to make sure they are getting all the right algae in their diet, they enjoy sliced cucumber(preferably blanched) and de-shelled prawns in their diets too like many other algae eating catfish
.For a tank your size i'd only advise one large growing plec as although they are primarily peaceful fish they can get a little bit terotorial if they are having to share terotorys all the time and one plec will be more than enough to handle your tanks algae problem anyways
.
Common and sailfin plecs are infamous for sucking on the slime coats of certain fish, stingrays bichirs and true gars are their usual victims but any fish that sits still for too long could be in danger of an attack. The main reason for this is that most people dont realise that as they grow they actually need quite a bit of protein in their diet and need to be fed some meaty foods such as mussels and dead fish so when they dont get this they supplement their protein requirement with the slime of other fish.
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Ah... i take it that all algae eating plecs are capable of this though as they all face the same issue in their diets?
Just keep feeding it those prawns then i suppose.
Just keep feeding it those prawns then i suppose.
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
From what i have seen though many of the smaller plecs are more omnivorous than vegetarian like para plecs and zebra plecs and so i think a decent amount of meat in their diets is just as important as making sure your big plecs get it too .
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