algae eating fish

susieanne

I bought a fish that eats algae in my tropical fish tank (im not sure of its name im sure they called it something like a plaky in the shop its kind of browny colours its only quite small but have been told its can grow really large ) since putting it in this morning ive not seen it ,i think its hiding under a rock its been there all day ive even tried to temp it out with a algae wafer but all the other fish are eating its food .I just wanted alittle info about this type of fish why is it hiding, is it because its new to the tank ?

wornoutmumoftwo

I got my algae eater from a neighbour and hardly ever see him - apparently that's quite normal behaviour, if he is out he's skulking behind his rock but most of the time he's hidden inside.

chris_n_tj

I think it will be a plec. lol they do have a habit of hiding, we never saw ours unless it was dark, but it did keep the tank glass clean. If you do want to see it then try turning the tank lights off and sit back to watch and wait lol and wait and wait. ANyway iots no hardship just watching its so restful isnt it.
CHris n TJ

susieanne

Thanks for your replys its made an apperience its at the bottom of tank eating some of the wafer i put in , hoping it starts doing its job soon and starts eating some of the algae .

Pollycat

susieanne
Plecs (plecostomus) can grow quite big, maybe as large as 18".
It really depends what type you've got.
We bought one about 1.5" long and it eventually grew to about 8" before we decided that he/she was too big and took it back to the aquatic shop.

They can be quite shy and most are nocturnal.

We have a 3 foot community tank and have bristlenose plecs which only grow up to 5".

jaycat62

All according to what type of algae you have you can buy various algae eaters. Ottos are good for brown algae. Siamese algae eaters eat hair algae, and grow to about 4", there are 2 very similar types, also try to avoid the CHINESE algae eater as they can turn on other fish.

Plecs as said can get VERY big, what size tank do you have? Maybe the shop didn't explain well enough. They are great fish, but need alot of room.

HTH : ) I have 4 foot with 5 Ottos, 2 Siamese algae eaters, some community fish.