Info on Farlowella catfish

[FrankSlapperinni]

Hello
I was wondering if anyone out their had any experiences/information to share about Farlowella catfish (specifically Farlowella Acus).
I planned on buying a few (3 or 4) of these fish for my 30 gallon tank, due to all of the algae that has been building up.
Although I have two tank, the 29 which has been setup for eight months and 10 gallon that has been set up for about 4, I have never kept an algae eater, and I know nothing about their behavior etc.
The water I have comes from a well, therefore has a high pH around 8.2, would this be stressful on Farlowella's?
The currant fish in the tank are

6 Head and Tail light Tetras
3 Platy's
2 Pearl Gouramis
3 Boesmani Rainbowfish
2 Panda Cory's (plan on getting more, the rest of their shoal sadly mysteriously passed away )

All of the fish listed above have been in the tank since first two months the tank was running, no fish have been added recently.

The reason I wanted these catfish was because I read that they were excellent algae eaters, and because I saw a group in my LFS the other day, and I thought they were very fascinating fish.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have one, I never knew he ate algae. Mine just chills around the tankm usually on wood until feeding time. He's very placid to the point that he allows me to pick him up.

I think he's gorgeous! I'd like more.

 

[sewfishy]

Hi, I'm new here also but could not resist getting a farlowella acus for my tank. I've had her for about a week. They say she is an algae eater which she must do but all I see her do is suction to things and occasionally move. I found a web site which has info on them

http/www.scotcat.com/factsheets/farlowella_acus.htm

I think they are beautiful and want to add a few more to my tank.

Good luck!

 

[CFC]

I would concentrate on getting the pH in your tank before adding farrowellas, they are sensative to all water conditions which is often reflected in their seeminingly short aquarium life span. I would guess that the cause of the mysterious death of your panda corys was also the high pH of your water, try to get it down to 7.5 at the highest before keeping amazonian catfish.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Now how would I go about lowering the pH? if I added peat and driftwood, the water pH would go down, but every time I do a water change, the pH would go sailing back up again, wouldn't it?
and what about all of the fish that have been living in the high pH water? wouldn't the lower pH be stressful to them?

 

[Never2Bknown]

I do not know anything about pH--but I did look up the Farlowella. Here is some info that I found:

Size: 6 inches
Temperament: a shy and peaceful species, suitable for the community tank
Temperature requirements:72-85 F

It is quite a job to keep individuals alive since it feeds mostly on algae. A fair though unsubstantial substitute is lettuce and spinach, chopped into fine bits. The mouth is modified into a sucking device which enables the fish to cling to rocks in fast-moving streams and at the same time with its specially constructed teeth rasp off the algae. The shape and dark brown color of the twiglike fish camouflages it for a life among rocks, twigs, and green and brown algae. This species is an excellent example of protective adaptation for a specialized habitat.

I hope this information helps; you may have known it all already. I noted, however, that the book did not mention any sensitivity to salt, though it usually does with such fish if it cannot stand salt of any kind. Thus, since salt makes the pH more base than acidic (higher) this does suggest that it can most likely stand a higher pH level, so in its case, you may not have to worry about lowering your pH levels any. (I am not entirely sure about this, however; it is only a hypothesis based on what I haven't read.)

 

[sundog]

This type of cat fish like bright clean and fast water with a neural ph. They will not thrive in an ph of your tank and it will most likely kill them. They feed on algae both brown and green and are very difficult to get to eat anything else scalded letuce chopped spinach and thin slices of cucumber are a good alternative ....if not eaten within 24hours remove them.

 

[noelberg]

pH is always tricky because sometimes one can get involved with chemicals and substances that can have adverse effects. IMO the best solution (though possibly expensive/time consuming) would be to buy bottled water or to filter (Brita, etc.) your water. Of course you want to lower the pH gradually, because any sudden large shift in water quality = massive die-off. So introduce water slowly. Most of the fish if not all should be OK with a gradual lowering of pH. Small water changes will be the key.

 

[PereguineFalcon]

Well, i would say crushed coral but that bufferes your pH....so nevermind.