# algea eaters and color change



## Guest (Mar 18, 2007)

i have two algea eaters in my 20 gallon long. yes, i know that they are big and aggressive fish. they are going to be traded in for ottos soon. Any way...We have a store in southern michigan called Meijer. it is sorta like a walmart but bigger. they have a pretty decent fish section. they carry regular algea eaters as well as gold algea eaters. I bought two regular algea eaters and now the smallest one is almost all gold. he still has a faint amount of brown on the base of his tail but the rest of him is gold. i bought him as a regular, not a gold and they are kept in different tanks. does anyone know why this happened? thanks and i'll try to get some photos of him.
Andrew


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

I dont no y this is but we to have plecos like this at our miejer in Indiana.


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## Ackerman651 (Oct 30, 2006)

Yeah i live in Indiana too and they do have a nice fish selection, almost more than a lot of the petstores around, and at better prices too. Are you feeding it algae wafers? If so, different brands and different types of algae have different effects on them, such as change in color. Many other things can affect the color, such as change in lighting, other substances added to the water, ph, etc. It will most likely be fine, just keep a close eye out for any behavioral problems.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2007)

the only thing it eats is the fish flakes i feed the other fish, blackworms, if it can get them fast enough, and algea that it finds in the tank.


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## Corydora_FREAK (Feb 21, 2007)

Some Algae eaters, like plecostmus can expand and contract chromatifores in there skin to change their appearance to fit their mood(fear, stress, content). Other algae eaters can to, just like humans, look more pale when stressed and become more vibrant when they are happy and content. I am guessing that's what happened with yours.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

They sound like CAEs. There is a albino or "gold" variety of them.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2007)

they are exactly what damon said they are. but when i bought them they were grayish brown, the wild color. but now it is almost all gold and it has been changing color for about 1 1/2 - 2 months now. it seems healthy and swims around eating algea (but it doesn't eat enough..lol).


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## TigerBarb12 (Jan 7, 2007)

here in ohio we have meijer, i think all of the US has meijer


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## Corydora_FREAK (Feb 21, 2007)

New Mexico doesnt that i know of


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## Ackerman651 (Oct 30, 2006)

the only place ive seen meijers in are indiana michigan and ohio that i know of. Anyway, i know you already mentioned this, but i would try to get them back ASAP. I had a golden chinese algae eater for a while and it was a pain. They like to suck the slime coat off of other fish more than eat algae, and thats really bad for the fish. Definitely exchange them for otos, their great tank cleaners and peaceful as you can get, really great fish.


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