Algie Eaters

Question
We bought an algie eater for our tank along with 7 danios. Everything was fine. One danio was dead within a couple months.... We let it go. Then we bought another danio and a couple molly's.....Seemed fine. Then a molly was dead........We got two orange sword tail fish. Only a couple days ago. When one was dead yesterday and we found the other dead this morning....We think it might the algie eater doing the killings. The last dead fish was seen yesterday and last night no where to be found. We believe he was in the shipwreck with the algie eater...This morning he was floating. Could the algie be the culprit? Do they kill....Should we find him a new home? Our tank and water checks are great.....We think it might be a territorial thing. Like he might be taking the algie off the other fish and being so big he might be killing them. Could we be right? Please let us know...We thank you

Answer
HI Jeff,
 When you say "algae eater" do you mean a plecostomus catfish, which can get quite large, e.g., 7+ inches, as opposed to a true algae eater which is a little fish about 3 inches long (comes from Southeast Asia)?

 I will assume the former.  Plecostomus can be territorial but usually against other plecostomus.  Most likely the fish were dead first and the plecostomus got them after they died.  

 In most cases, those other fish should be swimming up in the water column which is out of reach of the plecostomus who generally stay on the bottom or sides.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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