swords3711

Well my 35g has a battle going on for the most dominant fish in the tank.

The leader is my big male marble mollie. His so called achievements are that he killed off the other male(sad but true) and he takes total control of the shrimp pellets dropped into the tank.

The rising star...of all fish, a chinese algae eater. He is friends with all other fish in the tank. His major rival, the big male mollie. They have been going at it for weeks.

So here's the story...
When a shrimp pellet was dropped into my tank, the mollie was in complete control. The algae eater was an innocent bystander to the fight for the pellet.
One day, the eater got curious and decided to try the pellet. He liked it. So he would dit around and when a pellet was dropped in there he would go over, sit on it, wait for the others to leave and eat it all by himself.

The mollie didn't like this so he would nip at the algae eater. The eater didn't mind so he just sat there. Well, after four or five nips, he would get annoyed. He then would procede to jump at the mollie startling it.

Te eater obviously liked the idea of the mollie not liking him, over the love of the taste of the pellet.

So now when a pellet is dropped into the tank, the algae eater makes sure that it is his duty to keep that mollie away from that pellet. His way of doing it is by chasing the mollie around the tank. These chases last about one lap around the tankand it continues to happen until the pellet is gone.

So I guess the tank leader will be the fish who can outlive the other...lol

HatchetHaven

Neville

Yeah CAEs r Bad fish, they r aggressive, oto catfish r much better algae eaters.

HatchetHaven

Butterfly

If you drop shrimp pellets in at two places that may help the feeding wars.
Carol

swords3711

Oh I drop four in at a time.
The fish just gradually push them all under a log in my tank.

As for aggression, he doesn't chase the mollie until feeding time, andhe doesn't bother the other fish.

For otos, I did have one that did fairly well, but died and many said that they are not very hardy eaters. I've never had luck with plecos and they never seem to do anything. I've had several and they all die within about two weeks. Besides, the eater hangs around the bottom and chases the mollie around when he's down there. He can't really do anything to hurt him, the mollie just can't stand him.

COBettaCouple

The CAE needs to be moved. He will grow and kill that molly and other fish in that tank. Especially as they've already shown incompatibility. I know sustina-flower and some other members have experienced just how deadly the CAEs can be.

AggieYen

I'm one of them. The CAE harassed the living daylights (literally) out of my goldfish. It especially liked sucking on them, too. He started out really quiet and shy, then he grew big and bad and mean. And then he stopped eating algae, which I understand is what they do as they grow up.

But then again, I guess if you haven't seen your CAE harass your other fish - i'd just say to keep a very, very, very close eye on him. He does get big though. Bigger and badder.

HatchetHaven

Ironman

try to stop feedign them shrimp pellets. If you have shrimp, take out the CAE

HatchetHaven