silly question about convicts.

[promise]

is there any type of algae eater i can put in the 75 with the convict cichlids?
i need something that can hold its own! as yet the fish are not spawning or pairing up so i dont think i have an issue with that but will keep a close eye. i also have a tiger snail in there but the little guy aint doing such a great job.
its also a planted tank so that rules out my common pleco.

[Sharkman]

That might be a situation of trial and error. If there are plenty of hiding spots then you can try one of the smaller plecos like a rubberlip or a bristlenose pleco. They get to about 4 inches. If you have another tank to put the pleco in just in case the combo doesn't work out then it's fine, but if you only have the 75 gallon there is no guarantee. Have the convicts started to dig in the substrate yet? I'd keep an eye on that as they love to dig and that could become a problem in your planted aquarium.

[promise]

yeah they started to dig but they don't pull the plants up, actually thats not true they pulled a couple up but that was when they first went in the tank. they all have their little territories now so they confine digging to those ares.
i have a chinese algae eater would that be a good choice do you think or is it going to be 5 aggro fish and all im doing is adding 1 more aggro fish in the tank???

[Sharkman]

A chinese algae eater does not eat algae believe it or not lol

[promise]

A chinese algae eater does not eat algae believe it or not lol

really? i never knew that, the guy is always sucking away at the glass on my tank.

[Sharkman]

is the fish young? If it is young it may still eat algae, but once it gets a taste of flakes or any other food you are feeding the convicts it will quit on the algae.

[promise]

he is around 6 inches long, i had it from 1/2 inch since beginning of the year. hmm maybe i will have to put a few more snails in there then, the cons don't really care about the snail.

[Trillianne]

The only silly convict question would be,

"what are they convicted of?"

[toddnbecka]

A bristlenose should be alright as long as there's suitable cover for it.

[promise]

A bristlenose should be alright as long as there's suitable cover for it.

after i have treated the tank im going to re-arrange the whole thing to provide a lot of cover.
at the moment i have rocks against the back wall and plants in the back and in the centre, so not a lot of cover but im treating a fungus in there right now so its nice because there isn't a lot of cover.
blessing in disguise i guess.

[toddnbecka]

Why is it a blessing in disguise? Fungus doesn't need cover. Providing cover for the fish makes them more comfortable/less stressed, and healthy fish aren't as likely to develop fungus if they are injured IME. I've seen cichlids, pleco's, and silver dollars with ragged fins, and my Synodontis catfish quite often bite chunks of skin off each other when they're squabbling or spawning. I never see any fungus develop, and the injuries are usually healed up in a week or less. I don't treat them with any meds, the only thing I use is salt when a new addition brings along Ich.

[promise]

Oh no the fungus is on the tank not the fish, sorry.
i posted yesterday as i have a growth of something in my tank on the silicone i didnt know what it was so i asked on here and no-one had seen it before so i had to go to my LFS we had a long chat about it and the short of the story is that i have to treat the tank for this bacterial/fungal invasion.
but i have to leave plants and animals in their while it happens and with no cover it means this thing whatever it is has no little crevices or cracks to hide in.

[toddnbecka]

So your lfs advised you to strip down the tank to get rid of fungus growing on the silicone? I've never heard of such a thing, and can't imagine there's any organism that can find nutrition in silicone caulk, it's inorganic. What are you using to treat it?

[promise]

were not sure if its a fungus or a bacteria, so were treating with melafix, try the easy and least expensive things first right.
the tank itself wasn't stripped down it just didnt have a huge amount of cover except behind the rocks here is the tank in the first picture
i started a thread on the fungi/bacterium (whatever it is) in the general forum but like me no one has seen it before but have attached a pic for you to see what im dealing with just in case you might know.
Big Als guy was very suggestive of things we can try, and dint rush me straight into the most expensive thing they have.
its not affecting the fish but as he said any bacteria that is cultivating like that aint going to be good for me or anything i come into contact with just incase it is harmful then i need to do something with it.

[toddnbecka]

Looks like some of the bacteria colonies on agar plates from my microbiology class in college. Chances of them being anything harmful to you or the fish are very slim. I don't understand what they're using for a food source though, they certainly aren't eating the silicone.

[promise]

exactly the same thing we said lol
i had a guy tell me that it was coralline algae as it was a salt water at some point, but that wouldn't survive in fresh water and also it should be hard as its a calcium based coral, it also smears when rubbed.
its not affecting anything in the tank, were just doing this as a precautionary thing incase it does start to get nasty for the animals and plants in the tank.
i agree that silicone isn't a life sustaining material but the bacteria is only growing on that and no where else, its a strange one