Ideas for Bichir Tank Mates - Algea eaters - My conundrum

[PoissonRouge]

So I have a live planted soil tank, capped with sand and some fish that surprisingly get along very well right now. Here is the list and their sizes

1 Delhezi Bichir (a thick 11-12")
1 Endli Bichir / or hybrid (still unsure about 12")
4 Yoyo Loaches (x1@4" & x3@2")
2 Bristlenose Pleco's (2.5" and 3.5")
1 Pearl Gourami (2.5")

I had all but the bichirs together but in the process of upgrading to a larger tank the bichirs came along with tank I purchased so I crossed my fingers for a happy family. I have really grown to like them and must have had great luck because they have brought no harm to any of my fish listed above. For a bit of history there was also an Ornate that came with the deal he was over 14" and I previously owned a Siamese algae eater who did a terrific algae clean-up, and in the process of getting everyone into the new tank the algae eater disappeared after several days and I have no idea who ate him but my guess was the ornate just because of her size and unfortunately the people who sold me the tank had no right having the ornate - the tank was far too small for her so i sold her to someone with a very large tank! Okay and and now for my conundrum....


I have some algae on my plants and want to have something that will help eat algae off the leaves without destroying the plants, without becoming bichir lunch, and will be compatible with my fish listed above, by the way my plecos clean the glass and driftwood great but aren't helping with plants... Maybe I an S.O.L. because here are the conclusions I have come to... Please correct me if you think differently

Snails - not an option - will get eaten by loaches
Shrimp - will get eaten by bichirs?
Chinese algae eater - aggressive towards plecos? Too rough on plants?
Siamese algae eater - concerned because I lost mine, but I saw a site that sometimes stocks ones that are 3-4 inches? Mine was not nearly that big, would they survive if they were in a group?

Any ideas or success stories of your own for compatible plant algae eaters, something I have missed or maybe mislead on?

Thanks- I really enjoy reading through all these great forums of experienced fishkeepers

 

[kno4te]

In think your endli will end up eating ur loach, pleco, and gouriami. Despite playing nice. There's such a gap in size I think it will happen.

With that said. I wouldn't advise a cae as they are slightly aggressive but slender enough to get eaten by the endli.

With that said I think the best advice for you is to cut down feeds and increase ur wc's. Add co2 if u didn't already. Scrub ur glass and cut back on light time but u have a planted tank.

Or get an algae scrubber. There's a lot of DIY stuff on YouTube.

 

[rodger]

Why is this in lungfish section?

 

[PoissonRouge]

Sorry if it is in wrong spot- I was thought it should go here because I am interested in bichir compatability. And thanks kno4te for your input and thoughts...my algae isn't really a large problem, yes I have c02 injection- I just enjoyed the algae eaters and wanted to know if anyone had long term success keeping any of these fish with bichirs

 

[kno4te]

Got you poissonrouge.

 

[PoissonRouge]

Although I am curious because I am new to bichirs, why do you say that the endli will eat my other fish but not the delhezi? Is it a size thing or just general behavior in your opinion?

 

[kno4te]

Endlis get much bigger than delhezis. They are also most notorious for eating tankmates. Dels can but not like endlis. Usually it's the juvenile ones.

I think there's a chance it'll eat some of the tankmates(not will, excuse my wording) cause they are smaller and the endli will play hungry hungry hippo.

General rule of thumb with bichirs is if it can fit in its mout. It'll be eaten.

I think u need some help and more info from the good doctor, D drb .

Let me page him lol.