Are u supposed to actually feed ur algae fish?

Question

me and my bf were at the pet store th eother day looking for things for the fish tank and we say that they had like tablets and stuuf for algae fish. ive never fed mine but we dont have much algae in the tank and the last one got aggressive was it because there wasnt enough for him to eat? i thought they would just clean up the fish food that was on the bottom but we have a new one now and i dont want him to get aggressive so should i buy him some food for him?

Answer 1

Buy the tablets if your tank is low on algae. Algae eaters should not become aggressive by nature alone; there was not enough food. The tablets are cheap to buy and are good for your fish.

Answer 2

Every fish has it's dietary needs and left over foods are not the foods that an algae eating fish needs. Too many people got regular plecos without knowing that they can get to be over 18 inches long. There are several other fish that will eat algae that do not get overly large, my favorite is the bushymouth pleco that only gets to be up to 7 inches long (depending on which species they are). There are also the Otto cats that only get o be about 1 & 1/2 to maybe 2 inches long. And yes I feed my algae eating animals algae tablets to make sure that they get a good diet.

Answer 3

no they eat algae

Answer 4

if there is no algae in the tank then yes

Answer 5

yes,they can get aggressive and hunt (to the best of their abilities) if they don't have food it would be a good idea to get those for it.

Answer 6

yes get him algae wafers or the vacation feeder blocks they love those

Answer 7

Yes.  Very few algae eaters can subsist on a diet of algae alone, especially in a small tank.  You don't mention what kind of an algae eater you have, but plecos, for instance, need more roughage in their diet than what algae provides.  They need wood to chew on in order to aid their digestion and there is seldom enough algae growing in a normal tank to support their body weight and size.

Even the small ones need their diet to be supplemented with algae wafers and the occasional vegetable.  One of the most common causes of pleco deaths is starvation.  A well-fed pleco should have a rounded stomach that does not lie flat against the side of the tank when it is sucking on the side.  It should bulge out at the sides a little as well.  If your pleco can lie flat against the side of your tank without his belly bulging, he's too skinny and is going hungry.  Try giving your algae eater a wafer every once in a while and even a slice of zucchini or a frozen pea now and then.  It'll probably be much calmer and more content.

Answer 8

only if there is no algae present in the tank as if you give them the food when algae is present then they won't want to eat the algae.

Answer 9

our algae eater was attacking other fish, and we got the algae wafers. the problem stopped right away, and now the algae eater is HUGE! we put one algae wafer in about every other day or so. buy the wafers, its worth it. good luck.

Answer 10

put a light on the tank to grow algea for him to eat, but not too much to where it messes up the tanks ph balance!!

Answer 11

it is good to suplement an algae eaters diet with akgae waffers as they get larger they need more food and they will eat the food the reaches the bottom but would still need supplements and depending on what type of algse eater you had some can by very aggresive the chinease algae eaters get aggressive well most pelco's do not