Archivarium 2004

[lewis83t]

I bought I clown pleco 4 days ago to help fight the algae in my tank. and because he is pretty neat looking, but he has yet to touch the algae all he does is hide under my driftwood. Is there a prob or should I just give him time to get use to the tank. the algae is really starting to get bad? I waited for the algae to form so I could get a clown and now that I have one hes not helping me out. any ideas

[ariaanna]

you really can't expect a pleco to completely clean up your entire tank, you need to do some cleaning yourself. I'm pretty sure clown plecos are omnivores, so you're going to need to make sure he has something besides algae to eat, and also, ime, clown plecos tend to be shy and only come out when it's dark..... so there's a good chance you won't see him eating away.....

correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my two cents.

[lewis83t]

I have also been putting in algae waffers would that be good enough or is there anything else that I could try?

[ariaanna]

why would you give him algae wafers if you want him to clean up the algae?

[lewis83t]

well I really put them in for the cory cats but thought they would also be good for the pleco.. Thats why I asked so if you could be a little more specific that would be helpful.

[kimura]

I've seen my 2 small clown plecs eating sinking waffers, algae waffers, carnivore pellets and blood worms. I don't think I've ever seen them eating algae off the glass, but then again they do hide a lot. I'd try feeding them at night for best results.

depending on what kind of algae you have you may want to try ottos or a bristlenose. it may be a good idea to find out why you have so much algae. I would also recommend a few fast growing low light plants to out compete the algae.

btw cories will eat the algae waffers but I'd try just bottom feeder waffers instead that with hikari sinking carnivore pellets to make everyone happy.