I have three chinese algae eaters that live in my pond in the summer. They are inside in a 40 gallon breeder tank for the winter. I have had them 6 months. They still eat algae and moss. They do not bother any of my other fish. They live with comet/common
goldfish, 2 sailfin plecos, and a bunch of mosquito fish. Outside, I would occasionally supplement with algae wafers because there was no algae or moss down in my pond. I would also set mossy rocks from the waterfalls down into the pond for a couple of nights to get the moss cleaned off. It was fun to watch the
CAE's munch the algae. Now, I bring the mossy rocks into the tank for them to clean. They still eat the moss and I have had them 6 months. They are now about 6-7 inches long. They will eat snails, but not very often. They prefer the algae still. Since I brought them inside, I supplement the moss with occasional algae wafers, but also with shrimp pellets and Nutrafin Max Sinking Complete Food Tablets. My plecos like them also. I just got some new baby goldfish from Walmart - they are pretty little orange and white ones. I'll keep them inside until it warms up a bit outside. They are too tiny to put out in the winter. The cae's are ignoring them. I also have three cory cats in that tank. The cae's ignore them also. My only problem is my three cae's like to play tag. They swim around so fast in the tank that they knock things around. I'm surprised they haven't knocked themselves out with how hard they bump into the rocks! I have never had any problem with them bothering any of my other fish. If anyone in my area needs to get rid of a cae that is too big for their tank, I would be willing to take a few for my sister's pond in the spring. Her pond is about twice the size as mine, and she has tons of moss.
