matthewY Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Came home yesterday after work to find that one of the 2 golden algae eaters had died. When I first purchased them, I thought they should be ok together being a 350L tank and having lots of plants, rocks and a driftwood the size of my whole arm in it. Over the last 2 months, one has gotten very fat and has been picking on the other, who has in return gotten very skinny. I think the fat one believes that the whole tank is his and whenever he sees the skinny one he starts to play tag for a min or so. The little one has not been alowed on teh huge driftwood and i has added afew rocks just for him which is away from the driftwood, however, slowly them too started to belong to the fatter one :-( About a week ago I started to give the small guy special treatment, I picked up some special algae type food in hope that he would get a chance to eat (he was always hidingi n one corner of the tank hoping the other guy woudlnt find him). He was eating abit and I thought he might get abit larger and not be suck easy pickings for the other. sadly he didnt make it through teh week :-( In hind sight, I should not have gotten 2 of them (though the fish shop did say they would be ok and also indicated they are not really agressive etc, it was only when I got them home and did soem searching that i read otherwise... My partner who never really likes my fishies fell inlove with them as soon as she saw then at teh pet shop so i had to grab them...kind of...). Also in hind sight, I should have seperated the bigger one and try reintroducing him at some later stage.... I wonder how these guys ever have a chance to bread considering their nature... maybe they were both males or something... Anyway, thought i'll share this incase anyone else in future has similar issues... would appear 350L tank isn not big enough for 2 agressive golden algae eaters.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 they get more agro as they grow , but i love them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewY Posted February 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 hey snookie, just wondering, how many have you had in the same tank and what size tank? The petshop must have had atleast 20 or so and they seemed less agressive in those numbers.... but I wouldnt want that many... Also, are they happy? :-> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 i have 2 a normal and a golden approx 6 inch , in a 6 ft tank a bit of chasing but know damage , as they get older you will find they dont eat algae much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd123 Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 are these sucker fish sold at animates as golden algae eaters? I have two and the same thing occurs with mine.... and they have grown... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Yup, Chinese Algae Eaters are extremely territorial. Knew someone that had a pair in a 460L tank and was told they spawned in a tree trunk but I never saw it. Point being that they can coexist if the aquarium is large enough and/or they are opposite sexes but most times one kills the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatpurplebunny Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 I'm sorry to read you lost them both My GAE was one of the first fish I ever owned and remains one of my favorites as s/he is so interactive when I sit and watch, and just has so much personality .. I've never seen Goldy bother any of the other fish in the (130ltr) community but I've only the one of the species (and won't add another after reading this) .. Do you think it's still likely he will pick on the other tank mates as he gets older? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewY Posted February 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 the ones I had were the ones sold under the naem "golden algae eaters". I'm sure they are the same as the normal algae eaters with the exception of the colours (I've seen ones that are like 50% gold etc, quite strange to see). The info under the tank says they only grow to 12cm and with normnal coloured ones it says 24 cm, i wonder if this is incorrect... I havent had these guys pick on anything else in the tank (I only have neons and cardians but would add discus when I get a chance and $$$ to get enough of them) so if the last remaining algae eater picks on the discus when i add them, he would find himself in a new home with mountain minnows and a much smaller tank :-) ah, circle of life... mountain minnows are having babies :-) I found 1 fry about 2 weeks ago and its now about 1cm long (thought just 1 fry was strange enough, I used to get like 50 or so). last night I found another baby fry... I think they are drip feeding me the babies :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd123 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 I dont think i would put a discus with these sucker fish. I had mine in a tank with angels and dwarf gourami and they quickly lost interest in the algae and began trying to attach to the angels and gourami. Guess they preferred the slime to the algae. They can also be rather aggressive in the swimming and may freak the discus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paekakboyz Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 sorry to hear about your loss - always sucks to loose a fish (or two!) But if you are after another one I've got a 8-10cm chinese algae eater (I think it's a golden one) that I want to get rid of... pm me if you're interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd123 Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 hehe....and i have two you are welcome to have as well.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 I was very interested to read your comments. I have a big golden, about five inches long, and he has managed to dispose of any same species tank mates I put in there. I hadn't been very fond of him, until last night!! I am in the process of setting up a new tank, four foot long, and it has grown a rust coloured algae on all the surfaces where light falls. I put him in, and in less than twelve hours he has vacuumed all the algae off!! Not sure how he managed in such a short time, but after an hour there were tracks all through where he had been. This morning all the rocks and gravel are back to normal colour. So I am now his biggest fan!! Here's hoping he doesn't attack the other fish when I put them in, and thanks to your warning I won't add any more. Cheers, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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