Loaches Online Forum

Part of the problem with a bristlenose in a 20 is that it is just too large a fish. No matter what they eat, vegies or algae off the sides of the tank it will all become waste. There is not a lot of protein in vegetable foods, but there is enough, and the decomposing waste is indeed too much for a 20 gallon tank. I have not had the problem of bits of vegies clouding the water. My fish seem to find all the bits and turn them into fish poop.

Here is what I would do, if I wanted to keep the fish in the OPs list:

Botia kubotais- These guys get pretty big. A group of half a dozen would be OK in a tank at least 4' long, 45 gallons They may hide well enough to keep out of trouble from the Tiger Barbs, and a 45 gallon tank is large enough for a Bristlenose Pleco. They are gentle fish, so a different schooling fish would also work. I have Clown Barbs and Rainbows with mine.
Pangio oblonga- OK in the 20, get at least half a dozen. Add small schooling fish such as Rasboras, or Puntius pentazona. For algae, a trio of Otos.
Puntius tetrazona- These guys get big, and can be too nippy in small groups. Put a dozen in the 45 gallon tank.
CAE- Return to the store. I have heard of them being useful in a tank of African Cichlids, and even then I knew of one that was so aggressive it ended up in a tank by itself. They get larger, too, so 'a tank by itself' could become at the absolute minimum a 20 gallon.

I will definitely consider one of the algae eaters that everyone suggested. Right now, I'm trying to re-home my Chinese Algae Eaters before they get huge and extremely aggressive. I am aiming to stock under 100% with a filtration capacity much higher than that, and to do so, I have to re-home those algae eaters and upgrade to a bigger tank once I move (within the next few months). I am thinking about going for a 33 gallon long so that I can have enough space for my bottom dwelling loaches and my Botia kubotai to live happily. I would also like to purchase two more Botia kubotais since one of the two died. All in good time.

Diana wrote:Part of the problem with a bristlenose in a 20 is that it is just too large a fish. No matter what they eat, vegies or algae off the sides of the tank it will all become waste. There is not a lot of protein in vegetable foods, but there is enough, and the decomposing waste is indeed too much for a 20 gallon tank. I have not had the problem of bits of vegies clouding the water. My fish seem to find all the bits and turn them into fish poop.

Here is what I would do, if I wanted to keep the fish in the OPs list:

Botia kubotais- These guys get pretty big. A group of half a dozen would be OK in a tank at least 4' long, 45 gallons They may hide well enough to keep out of trouble from the Tiger Barbs, and a 45 gallon tank is large enough for a Bristlenose Pleco. They are gentle fish, so a different schooling fish would also work. I have Clown Barbs and Rainbows with mine.
Pangio oblonga- OK in the 20, get at least half a dozen. Add small schooling fish such as Rasboras, or Puntius pentazona. For algae, a trio of Otos.
Puntius tetrazona- These guys get big, and can be too nippy in small groups. Put a dozen in the 45 gallon tank.
CAE- Return to the store. I have heard of them being useful in a tank of African Cichlids, and even then I knew of one that was so aggressive it ended up in a tank by itself. They get larger, too, so 'a tank by itself' could become at the absolute minimum a 20 gallon.

I tried to return the CAE to the store but they wouldn't take it back even as a donation. I did find another LFS that would accept them, but its quite a distance away so I will bring them in the next time I make that trip. I do like the CAE, but I don't want to harm any of my other fish. If I upgrade my tank soon, I would like to go with a 33 gallon long and have some Pangio oblonga's in there (maybe 10). I am wondering how closely I should follow everything AqAdvisor spits out. I'm trying to follow it very closely now because I don't want to mess up...

I use siamese algae eaters and bushy nose plecos in my tanks. But my smallest tank is 40 gallons. I once tried to use Nerite snails with Kubotais and Arulius Barbs. Between the Barbs and the Kubs they managed to flip the snails over and eat them. Kubs love snails!!