# Trouble in Freshwater



## greggolf (Sep 25, 2006)

Alright, I have a bit of a problem. I bought both a plant (JAVA FERN) and bought some algae flakes for my Chinese Algae Eater. problem one...I just found out that there is a creature underneath the filter in the aquarium, which looks skinnny with antennas. Can it possibly be an earwig, or ****************roach? Problem 2...The plant I had bought apparently had 2 baby fishes in it, I took the 2 tiny baby fish and moved them to a tiny aquarium. Would you know what kind of fish they are? Problem 3 and the last... As I explained earlier I bought algae flakes, but when I goto eat feed the chinesse alage eater and 2 of my dalmation mollies ate the algae food. Will my algae eater survive??


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## craftyflalady (Jan 25, 2006)

_No way to tell what the baby fish are, or the critter in your tank witout pics. Mollies love the algae flakes as they need them in thier diet also. Have no experence of Chinesse algae eatter. But pretty sure those are the ones that get huge. Could be wrong though. It's happened before.....once. lol

Kathy _


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

CAE get pretty big, what's your tank size? I wouldn't keep them in less than 30 gallons. Try some algae wafers - they sink faster.

Don't know what the bug is but I'm sure it's not a problem.

As for the babies, just keep them in a smaller tank (1-5 gallons), keep the water clean, feed them powdered fishfood, provide some sick plants for cover. If you have an extra tank, like a real tank with heat, it's best to put them in there. When I first had sword fry, I put them in a 2 gallon jar and raised them there, but later I had a spare 3 gallon with heat and filtration (well, I didn't turn on the filter until they were bigger), and I was AMAZED at how much faster and more colourful they grew.


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## greggolf (Sep 25, 2006)

*Re*

Hey man thanks but, my tank is 30 gallon. Still though about the algae eater wont it die?

It needs the algae flakes but the mollies eat the flakes??


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

You can feed at night, the mollies may not find it... or find some way to isolate them when you feed.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Caes are very agressive. They will get food when they want it.


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

I think 30 gal is big enough. Try to find some sinking algae pellets.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Its large enough for now, but not nearly large enough for an 11 inch agressive predator.


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

Do CAEs get as big as that? Holy cow, I have one in my 55 gal :S


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

They quickly grow to about 4 inches, then it slows down dramatically. Partially due to improper tank size but when they reach 4 inches, they quit eating algae and target large slow-moving fish and suck the slime coat off of them. They dont stop there going through the fish's scales and into tissue. While they don't purposely kill the fish, it is usually the end result. They are huge bullies also.


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