# Chinese Algae Eater Question



## brettxw (Mar 6, 2009)

I have two of them. One is small and I rarely see him unless he comes out to just swim around..The other one is 10x larger then the smaller one. He's very active in the tank. He gets aggressive at times. Well I have hollow rock in the corner of my tank that I originally got the 'lobster' who just died but this larger algae eater has started to lay on the gravel and roll, flip whatever he does to push the gravel away from that spot. This has gone on for about three days. I have about an inch of gravel and he has now gotten to the bottom of the tank and that hollow rock has no support on one side since there is no gravel (still has not fallen) but he seems to love it, its like a little hole for him. He's always there. So my question is, is this normal? Does it mean something??


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## zombiefish610 (Feb 27, 2009)

Just my opinion, but i hate CAE. They don't do a good job of actually eating algae. The more they age the more aggressive they get and can harm other fish. They also get less attractive with age. On another note I see you have 5 Bala Sharks. You do know that they get to be around a foot long right? You couldn't house just 1 full grown in that 30 gallon. I would get rid of the CAE and get a Bristle Nosed Pleco or a group of Oto's. But before you do that I would seriously consider getting a much bigger tank, that is if you plan on keeping those sharks. Not trying to rain on your parade, just some suggestions. As for your question, sounds normal.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Zombie is right. CAEs also get quite big. The digging is a territorial thing and will get far worse... In fact, they become quite the bullies when they are fully grown! What the LFS didn't tell you when you dropped all your cash in their piggy bank and skipped out of the store is that all the fish they sold you were babies. Probably less than 10% of their adult size. Unless those balas are bursting out of the tank, they're still pretty much fry considering on how big they get!

Basically your options are 
a) Buy a 200g tank
b) Take them back to the LFS.

Geez-- aren't pet stores helpful?!


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## teddyzaper (Aug 30, 2009)

its true what u guys are saying but tht wasnt his question. zombie answered it. it is his territory now. a good way to get rid of territories (if u want to) is move the objects in the tank around


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