Suitable Algae Crew in Arowana tank

[nivlekx]

I am having a horrid time trying to maintain the algae situation in my planted tank. Anyone has any experience with any type of algae crew that would survive the jaws of the arowana.

The tank is quite mature, approximately 12 months old already. I used to control algae through scrubbing and trimming. Occassionaly I use some chemicals but they usually cause my plants to wither too. I mainly get BGA and Brush algae.

[toledosun]

I've posted my 3 round fight with bga in the "fertilization and algae" link which you may find useful.

In my case, I tried to get rid of bga by following plantbrain's method, i.e.:

1) change water and removing as much bga as possible
2) 3 days of blackout, no CO2 but injecting enough KNO3 to keep it at 10 ppm
3) after 3 days, do another water change.

However, steps (1) to (3) alone weren't enough. Turned out I was overdosing on ferts as well. When I did (1) to (3), followed by drastic reduction in water fert, bga went away.

You may want to give this a try if you can't find algae crews who can survive your arowana.

[vinz]

My arowana tank algae crew: Otos, SAEs and snails.

How big is your arowana? How big and densely planted is your tank? Is your arowana used to eating live food?

The younger arowanas are small (< 6 inches) enough to swim after their prey thru the plants and agile enough to catch most algae eaters. Otos are not very agile and SAEs have a habit of hovering and sometimes get careless.

Dense planting and leafy plants gives the small fishes refuge from the jaws of death. Out of sight, out of mind. However, if the plants are too far away, the smaller fish will lose the race.

If your arowana is used to live food, it will go after the non-food fish too.

Larger algae eaters tend to damage plants too, so they are out of the question.

Your best bet... snails and nutrient control.

I have otos and SAES that have been in the arowana tank for months, some over a year. The otos learn to stay out of sight till darkness. The SAEs stay out of sight until the arowana rests. Then they come out to forage, sometimes right next to the arowana.

Shrimps never learn. I've lost hundreds of malayan shrimp and about 8 Yamatos. Only 2 yamatos surviving in the tank now, by staying under the tenellus.

What's your fert regime? Maybe we can help you there. Where are the brush algae growing?

[vinz]

Update: I found 5 yamatos in the tank.

[albert]

Hi toledosun,

Just a question. After your three round fight, the BBA "disappear" or stop spreading??

Could BBA just disappear like this? Just curious..

Albert

[theodore]

Albert,

Toledosun was refering to BGA (Cyanobacteria) and not BBA.

[Irwan78]

Arowana tank...algae crew??
Possible if your aro only eats fish pellets/frzoen blood worms.
If your tank are lush and bushy...malayan shrimps would be able to hide.
I just won a battle with BGA.....Its very depressing..so many casualties.
So now back to scratch...
Try to get baby malayan shrimps....most likely to survive becoz it seems that my aro simply ignores the little ones.... must be too small to see em....