Sucking Loach / Chinese Algae Eater

[Feltzy]

Hi Guys

I decided to take up fishkeeping about 6 months ago and set up a tropical fish tank. I had some guppies in there whilst it was cycling and then once it had finished green Algae started to appear. I naively went to the pet shop, told the guy there what I had in my tank and asked what would be a suitable algae eater. I know now I should have done my homework before buying the fish because he recommended a sucking loach, even though I told him I only had a 10 gallon tank, and I've since read they grow up to 15 inches long on average (sometimes bigger) I made a point of asking him if they would be ok as a community fish and he said yes.

The problem I have isn't so much the size because I will be getting a bigger tank in a few months when I feel more confident with my new hobby, but the loach has now started being a right old bully, especially towards a molly that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I thought the molly was sick at first because he was stressed and hiding in the corner of the aquarium, but after close observation it turned out he is being bullied.

What can I do? Is this fish going to be even more aggressive when it gets older?

 

[Carlovel1]

Hi Guys

I decided to take up fishkeeping about 6 months ago and set up a tropical fish tank. I had some guppies in there whilst it was cycling and then once it had finished green Algae started to appear. I naively went to the pet shop, told the guy there what I had in my tank and asked what would be a suitable algae eater. I know now I should have done my homework before buying the fish because he recommended a sucking loach, even though I told him I only had a 10 gallon tank, and I've since read they grow up to 15 inches long on average (sometimes bigger) I made a point of asking him if they would be ok as a community fish and he said yes.

The problem I have isn't so much the size because I will be getting a bigger tank in a few months when I feel more confident with my new hobby, but the loach has now started being a right old bully, especially towards a molly that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I thought the molly was sick at first because he was stressed and hiding in the corner of the aquarium, but after close observation it turned out he is being bullied.

What can I do? Is this fish going to be even more aggressive when it gets older?

The loach will get worse, he will start to stress the molly to death It will most definatly get worse and bigger and I would never recommend a begginer to get these aggressive fish. You can give this fish away or return it or exchange it for another fish in the store you bought it in. Tell them that you were advised into buying this totally unsuitable fish. Never trust what any fish/pet shop says!

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Shops advertize them as community but i would only have them in VERY large tanks not the standard size tanks. They only eat algae when they are younger anyway and can move onto sucking scales off an unlucky fish so be warned.

 

[Feltzy]

Thanks guys, I think I may have to take him back, I've read some really bad things now on the net about them killing other fish so its definitely not what I want in my community tank. Its a shame because I really enjoy watching him when he's not chasing the molly and I've gotten quite attached to him

 

[walkers101]

when younger the CAE are maybe the best algae eaters but once older they turn into complete pains in the backside eating fish etc

 

[Feltzy]

Luckily I have a few family members who have tropical tanks so I've messaged them to see if any has a tank that is suitable. I can't believe they sell these things as community fish after all the stuff I've read about them, its really antagonising my molly, it goes looking for it and chases it all over the tank. Its been doing it all morning and the poor thing will die soon so I'm going to have to rehome today I think, if the family don't have space for it then it'll go back to the pet shop.

Thanks for your help.

 

[jameshunter63]

If your looking for an exciting algea eating fish i would recomend a couple of siamese flying fox! they are fantastic and nip around the tank, bags of character and are fantastic at cleaning the tank out!! Just dont get the confused with the siamese algea eater!!

 

[walkers101]

If your looking for an exciting algea eating fish i would recomend a couple of siamese flying fox! they are fantastic and nip around the tank, bags of character and are fantastic at cleaning the tank out!! Just dont get the confused with the siamese algea eater!!

i think you have this backwards mate the SAE is the cleaner
the flying fox is mis sold as a SAE

 

[Feltzy]

Right well my loach got progressively worse during the day, it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to stop until the molly was dead so I took the #28### out of my tank and it is currently sat in a bowl of tank water. I don't have a hospital tank and I can't get a home for it until tomorrow, whether that be family or pet shop. How long will it be ok in the bowl for?

The molly looked ecstatic when I took him out, after hiding in the corner for the last day or two he came out and started playing in the bubbles and with the guppies, he was defo doing a happy dance lol. So I reckon the decision to take him out was a good one, I just don't want him to die now!

 

[Carlovel1]

Right well my loach got progressively worse during the day, it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to stop until the molly was dead so I took the #28### out of my tank and it is currently sat in a bowl of tank water. I don't have a hospital tank and I can't get a home for it until tomorrow, whether that be family or pet shop. How long will it be ok in the bowl for?

The molly looked ecstatic when I took him out, after hiding in the corner for the last day or two he came out and started playing in the bubbles and with the guppies, he was defo doing a happy dance lol. So I reckon the decision to take him out was a good one, I just don't want him to die now!

Obviously it won't be good for him , but he should be fine in a bowl for a few days, I had to do the same with my Celebes Rainbowfish when he was gasping and after 3 days he was fine. But just give it to the pet shop soon, more than 3 days he will probably die

 

[Feltzy]

I ended up putting him back in the tank last night, I'm dropping him off today so figured he would be ok in the tank for one more night. My gran is going to take him off my hands and see how he is in her tank, she has a really big tank so he might be better in there. If he's not then she will give him to my uncle who has a few tanks on the go. My gran also said that I should have got more than one molly as they do better in groups. The one I have is a male so I might go and get a couple of females to keep him company.

Thanks for all your replies, I will definitely do my research in future before adding new fish to my tank. I'm learning new things all the time!

 

[fluffycabbage]

see i had an SAE in my tank when i got it, about 6" long. he was so docile, never bothered any other fish at all. shame he died really. i replaced him with another of the same, but its started to bully my silver molly, no other fish though