bythepond

Do CAE's eat "regular" food as well as algae?

My pleco died yesterday at the venerable age of 12. At 12", he was way too big for my 45 gal. tank, so his passing did have a bit of a silver lining. Also, I'm trying to plant my tank, and he kept digging up the plants.

Just a few days ago, I bought two CAE's because the pleco was not keeping up with the algae. I was thinking that I needed to buy a new "clean-up" fish, but some of the posts here suggest that the CAE is not strictly an algae eater, and that maybe I don't need a new fish after all.

My current tank is a tall 45 gal. I currently have 5 small angels, and the two CAE's. If I stick with the CAE's as a maintenance crew, are two enough?

Any help would be appreciated.

Barbrella

CAEs are good algae eaters and community fish when small, but can become territorial and aggressive at maturity and don't eat much algae either.

If the tank is established and there's sufficient algae, you might be better to get a school of 5 or 6 otos which stay small and are unaggressive.

Keep an eye out for your angels being harassed.

bythepond

Thanks, Barbrella.

It is an established tank, and they cleaned up all the algae on the glass. My question is, will they also eat the food that falls to the bottom, or are they strictly algae eaters?

I will keep an eye out for aggression. I realize now, that otos would have been a better choice, but I have the CAEs. I was raised that once you get an animal, you are responsible for it. You can't just get rid of it because it becomes inconvenient. If they make me choose between them and the angels, that's a different story.

Barbrella

That's what I mean. Adult CAEs seem to like to attack slow moving fish and can suck the slimecoat off them.

Nothing like turning on the light and seeing your terrified angels huddled togehter with their fins all ripped up.

I learned this the hard way.

voiceless_kat

After I learned that I had been given CAE's when I bought otos, I did lots of reasearch on the CAE's. Two of mine were excellent algae eaters, once was lazy. The loved zuchinni, but I can't say I ever saw them eat any food meant for the cories or the bettas. They chased the bettas, and I read that one should be very cautious if keeping them in tank with "flat" bodied fish ( such as angels; silverdollars, etc) since they will "attach" and suck the slime coat off, as Barbella mentioned.

They also can grow to 11 inches in length - so eventually you may find yourself in the same predicament as with the pleco. And mine grew very quickly, from less than an inch to almost 2 1/2 in a month and a half - it kinda creeped me out!!

I admire how you taught to be responsible - in this case I would keep a very cautious eye out, because it may come down to choosing your angels over the CAEs. I brought mine back to a LFS, and have piles of silly otos now, and the bettas are much happier! Good Luck!

Val