Another Q: High kh algae eaters

[GrapeApe]

I have high ph (8.2 or so) & kh well water that I'm using in my tank.  My malawi mbunas seem to love it, the yellow lab pair is on their second brood now.  But, I'm getting a decent little build up of algae and since a bucket of snails wouldn't last 2 minutes with the labs around I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

[mseguin]

Plecos (especially BN) will generally do well in African water. #1 Make sure they're not wild (will need soft acidic water) #2 check the pH of where you buy them from, plecos can be sensitive to wild pH differences. Adapt them slowly.

[GrapeApe]

I've tried a couple different species of pleco.  Both died off after 1-3 weeks.  One was labelled a Hong Kong pleco.  The other I can't remember.

Sorry, I don't know what BN stands for.  Where could I find more info on them and can you suggest a place to buy from?  I've been doing my fish shopping at Big Al's and purchasing equipment etc. at Petsmart, both on Innes.

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated!

[mseguin]

BN = Bushynose or Bristlenose pleco. Generally quite good at handling various conditions, and very efficient cleaners, and stay relatively small. I know quite a few African owners keep them. BA Innes gets them in about every 2 weeks.

[darkdep]

PM a guy named jetstream on this forum.  He breeds BN Plecos.

I have his BN plecos in several high-pH african tanks, and they have been doing a great job for almost 6 months now.

[Marx]

i had a bn in a african tank.. it was fine.. for 2 years.. then i sold the setup with him lol..

[GrapeApe]

Ok, well I bought a Bull Nose Pleco from BA Innes on the 29th of Oct.  When I got it home I set up a drip and let it acclimitize for about 3 hours before adding it to my tank.  When the lights came on in the tank this morning he was upside down on the bottom with no visible exterior marks or growths.   That's 4 plecos now, I think, maybe I should avoid them, but it would be nice to have something for the algae.

Nov. 4th readings:
PH: 8.2
GH: 10dGH
KH: 12dKH
Temp: 78 C
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: between 5-10 ppm

[az]

try something bigger maybe......my convicts killed 3/4 small ones and ate them clean!

[GrapeApe]

It hadn't been eaten or even nibbled on and none of the other fish were even looking at its carcass.  

It had been feeding and moving about the tank, mostly hiding in the rocks, but it cleaned off a few of my enubias leaves and other large buildups of algae.  It's body wasn't emaciated and looked normal, not bloated either.

If it was shock from ph/kh would it have been feeding all that time?

[Julie]

It must have been the ph I'd say, though generally they can go up safely.  
I lost a hong kong pleco from petsmart also, but I think the heatwave this summer killed it when I was away on vacation.
Mind you it was still under warranty.
I lost the bn also from a breeder.  I can't remember the circumstances now, but it must be related to my high ph - 8 at the most and gh 15.  I'm north of you.
My discus ate my other pleco.  The only pleco that lives here is the sailfin but it can get really big.

Julie

[mseguin]

He might have. Can u make it to the auctions? If so I might wait and buy one from one the African keepers on here.

[GrapeApe]

Ya, I'll try to make it to the next auction.

[gvv]

When i had few "spare" BN pl*cos, I put 5 of them into my Malawi tank. They were about 3/4"  and my Crabro at first decided that they are food, so he tried to get one, but was uanble, as the pl*co really well "attached" himself to the glass, so Crabro decided to leave him alone. Several months later, when I disassembled my tank I found 4 of them, so 1 have been lost. So not bad as they were grown i the low pH/low hardness water. I tried RubberNose pl*cos, but they were not so hardy
Besides them, I also had SAEs and FFs in the same tank and they did really good job together with mbunas dealing with green algae, but none of them touch red algae, that appeared on the stones.

And, just for info I had ~8.2pH, ~25kH, ~18GH

Regards