Rainbow Cichlid - says it also eats algae?

[ottawa_fry22]

Anyone have any experience with this fish? I do get some light green slim algae on rocks,etc. Cute looking fish. 5 inches max and semi aggressive.

http://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewSpeciesNWCichlid.php?id=81

Please share any experience or thoughts. 

Thanks,
Stephanie

[Montrealguy]

It's a sociable omnivore - peaceful when not breeding, responsive and active. It does best in pairs, in a 3 foot tank. It eats algae and everything else, but it won't clean a tank. It picks at algae.

I love the species - it's not the prettiest or the most complex cichlid, but in hard water with room to move, they are like friendly underwater dogs.

[ottawa_fry22]

Thanks for the reply again. I might order some of these in as well with more earth eaters. I get that light green slime algae on plants and on the glass.  It comes off easy..and I have a submersed UV sterilizer running always..probably algae cuz of not alot of plants to outcompete it..and need co2. Not bad looking fish though..so may try them and see how it goes.

[Montrealguy]

Don't do it with Geophagine eartheaters. Rainbows are peaceful for Central American cichlids, but a peaceful Nicaraguan cichlid will clean the clocks of a peaceful Colombian eartheater. The different region has a different scale of what is aggressive, and the only earthaeters I can think of that might do okay with CA cichlids might be red-humps, or the southern Pearl eartheaters and Gymnogeophagus types.
I always try not to mix geographic regions - - it's not just water needs (CA hard, eartheater soft) , but also levels of territoriality and fighting ability.