could a chinese algae eater survive long term in coolwater aquarium?
16 November 2008
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for those who haven’t seen my prev questions, i owned a common goldfish and a black moor for almost a year and they got along great. i wanted a small algae eater and i was told by pet store i could get a coldwater catfish and i’ll need to get a bigger tank as it gets older………i then found out the ‘catfish’ i was sold was actually a chinese algae eater and was a tropical fish of that.
so back to my question, this algae eater has been getting along fine aside from the aggression to the others (he managed to kill off my black moor!) would he survive long term alone in the aquarium he’s in without a heater? the water remains at average room temp all day. and what are the effects on this fish of living in a cooler tank?
i’m not sure about the CAE surviving in such temperatures but if it does it won’t be very happy. also you should get it out of your tank ASAP because as they grow up they develop a nasty taste for fish’s slime coat and will suck your fish to death. they are also very aggressive. at the begining it might look like it’s kissing your fish but it gets to be over a foot long sometimes and it will suck your fish to death.
just get it out of your tank and bring it back to the petstore.
next time don’t listen to the petstore employees cuz they usually don’t tell the truth-that way you can keep coming to them and keep spending your money there.
good luck though!
it may shorten it’s lifespan, unless your home is kept at about 74 degrees (not likely). they don’t want temperatures lower than that. besides, chinese algae eaters can get very aggressive when they get older, so they might harass/kill the remaining goldfish. gold dojo loaches would be best, they prefer cold water. just remember, loaches need schools to prevent aggression. and a whole school of dojos would need a somewhat large tank, like 50g.
Yes it does survive as long as the temperature is not too much below 72F 22C.
you might wanna go ask an employee at the pet store you bought your fish but this is the website….
it will answer your question
In the UK pet trade they are often refered to as the sucking loach. They stop eating algae as they get older and start eating other fish.
Yes it can survive long term in an unheated aquarium, as long as the tank is big enough. Water doesn’t cool as fast as air so room temp should be fine unless it really drops.
The specific effect of cooler water is the slowing down of the fish biorhythm. It needs a degree of heat, (22C in this case), to be able to digest its food. (The reason pond fish don’t eat in Winter)
At the bottom end of the temp scale it will live longer as the ageing process is a biorhythm.
Loaches as you now know aren’t actually catfish, but this particular one is very hardy, hence the shop was able to pass it off as a cold water algae eater.
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