Hair algae? try Endlers!

**craftsman** · 1st Feb 2009, 01:30

Originally Posted by Jaffar

Most of the shops are selling male endlers. Which LFS can I buy the female one's?
The female endlers seem very similar to guppies so need to be careful in selection. Thanks

C328 got females on occasion. Try your luck there.

**Jaffar** · 1st Feb 2009, 23:08

Thanks craftsman.
I tried C328. Unfortunately, they did not have the females.
Will try my luck again.

**torque6** · 2nd Feb 2009, 19:41

Just an update, I've happened to starve my endler for about 9 days, no feeding at all. But it has refused to eat any of the small patch of hair algae on the bogwood. I've noticed it staying on the surface all the time scouring for pellets....

Sigh...I'm giving endlers an F9 for algae management.

**Jaffar** · 2nd Feb 2009, 21:35

What a let down. I expected something better from endlers. Good thing I did not go ahead to buy more endlers.

**EddyTing** · 2nd Feb 2009, 22:10

Ya, well, guess most effective way is just to remove those manually. Soak on bleach few seconds, gentle rub and back to water. Repeat until the hair algae is gone.

**DE-ROC** · 3rd Feb 2009, 02:14

endlers work amazing i got some for my tank 2 weeks ago, and no more algae!

**craftsman** · 3rd Feb 2009, 08:46

Originally Posted by Jaffar

Thanks craftsman.
I tried C328. Unfortunately, they did not have the females.
Will try my luck again.

Try and ask in the buy/sell thread. Maybe people might be selling.

**torque6** · 4th Feb 2009, 22:42

Originally Posted by DE-ROC

endlers work amazing i got some for my tank 2 weeks ago, and no more algae!

Ya, i've noticed that as well. It seems that natural occuring algae is part of endlers diet, but definitely not endlers sold here on our shores. They seem to be "domesticated"

and by enlarge prefers pellet/flakes food.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Feb 2009, 22:42

Hair algae are sort of higher species of algae similar to plants. Once induced, they will grow well if given proper conditions as that of plants. You need to go in and remove them aggressively and not just rely on algae eating critters. Their growth rate is very much faster than that what the crew can eat.

Once you kill the algae, focus on maintaining good conditions like enough nutrients and good CO2.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

**squall99e** · 9th Feb 2009, 23:55

brought some from colourful aquarium on sat

put in office tank on sat even in my abit hair alage tank,

Today no more hair alage, dun know if they will still eat hair alage when i put in the fish food

**torque6** · 10th Feb 2009, 20:33

Originally Posted by squall99e

brought some from colourful aquarium on sat

put in office tank on sat even in my abit hair alage tank,

Today no more hair alage, dun know if they will still eat hair alage when i put in the fish food

very odd, mine didn't touch them at all even when i starve it for 2 weeks. Looks like varying results. Are yours hybrids ?

Agree with peter that they favour conditions similar to plants, however "agressively" removing them tends to spread them more. I'm currently just overdosing Seachem excel on a daily basis, followed by water changes and removal twice per week. Removed my fishes into another tank to cut down on feedings/bioload. Its so far so good, but im looking at maybe 4-5 months of this regime till they are totally gone.

I was getting some sunlight 11am-2pm; 3hrs daily into the tank when i send my curtains for tailoring for about 2 weeks, slowly the hair algae has started appearing, but each time i cleared them, they spread even more. Once established, even in small clumps it can be quite tedious as they grow and spread extremely fast.

**squall99e** · 11th Feb 2009, 00:19

i can't really tell the difference between hyprid or not.

Just got it from colourful aquarium at thompson.

Guess really have to depend on luck

My plant look much more cleaner today

**barmby** · 11th Feb 2009, 11:10

Maybe, get the wild male ones from punggol park pond or etc. IMO, a much better choice than farm breed guppies. Be sure to quarantine them 2 weeks before adding to the main tank.

**wllm33** · 11th Feb 2009, 23:57

saw some endlers , both males and females today at c328, quite affordable.
you may want to look there if you are still keen to purchase pairs.
think have both the tiger type and the red/green/black colours type.
just to share.
cheers

**krabbie** · 14th Mar 2009, 22:05

Originally Posted by squall99e

i can't really tell the difference between hyprid or not.

Just got it from colourful aquarium at thompson.

Guess really have to depend on luck

My plant look much more cleaner today

I bought some from CA as well ... but my endlers didn't touch the hair algae at all ...

**torque6** · 14th Mar 2009, 23:10

After starving them for over a week, it didn't touch the hair algae as well. No matter, i've managed to clear them the old fashion way, but it took me close to 15 weeks to get them under control.

**Aquaboyy** · 15th Mar 2009, 11:28

mine also

they not interested at all....

**ccrs2008** · 22nd Mar 2009, 23:05

Just to sharing my way to clean Hair Algae.
I bought 20 pcs Amano Shrimp (Yamoto) (Depend your tank size) and keep them in another small tank without food for 1 week and them put them all into Hair Algae tank, it took only few day to clear almost 80% of the hair algae.
After that you have to focus on maintaining good conditions like enough nutrients and good CO2 like what Peter mention in this thread. Thanks,

**torque6** · 22nd Mar 2009, 23:52

The endlers weren't aim at removing hair algae but to see the effectiveness using fauna to remove them besides the usual amano/malayan shrimps.

The most effective has always been removing them aggressively during your water changes, couple with good flow of co2 and a balance of lights.

This method however too me 18 weeks to resolve once hair algae is induced in my tank in just 2 weeks.