# cold water dwarf plecs?



## mousey (Mar 28, 2011)

is there such a thing?
my goldfish tank gets no sun but is near a window. It gets tons of brown algae. The snail can't eat it all and while i do scrape it off on cleaning day it is still growing fast.
Not Caes!!


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

If the tank is getting too much indirect sunlight, there is basically nothing you can do to keep up. Best thing to do is move the tank.

One thing that might help depending on the setup is painting the back of the tank so no light passes through that way


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## aznphil (Jul 20, 2011)

no such thing as cold water plecs, they are from s. america, many ppl keep regular plecs w goldfish/coldwater species but its not recommended, you will stress the plecos.


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## DarkMousy (Nov 3, 2010)

You could try one of the _Garra sp._, I've had decent results with them eating most types of algae. Some people have reported them to be a little aggressive but I've never had any problems with them.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

aznphil said:


> no such thing as cold water plecs, they are from s. america, many ppl keep regular plecs w goldfish/coldwater species but its not recommended, you will stress the plecos.


This information is incorrect, there are such things as cold water plecos.

Honk Kong Plecos, also known as hill stream loaches are part of L. family. They have the same tendencies as their larger relatives, except they come from fast moving streams, with temperature between 68F-75F.

In theory you could get a couple of these as I believe they only grow to about 4", however you would need to add a power head towards the bottom of tank to provide an adequate water current that should mimic their natural habitat. But, this does depend on the stock of your aquarium, and the size of it. How many Goldfish are in how big of a tank? And whats you maintenance schedule like?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Ryan.Wilton said:


> This information is incorrect, there are such things as cold water plecos.
> 
> Honk Kong Plecos, also known as hill stream loaches are part of L. family. They have the same tendencies as their larger relatives, except they come from fast moving streams, with temperature between 68F-75F.
> 
> In theory you could get a couple of these as I believe they only grow to about 4", however you would need to add a power head towards the bottom of tank to provide an adequate water current that should mimic their natural habitat. But, this does depend on the stock of your aquarium, and the size of it. How many Goldfish are in how big of a tank? And whats you maintenance schedule like?


How is a loach a pleco?

Pleco= catfish

Hill stream loach= loach

Hong kong pleco is just a bad common name


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

regardless of what pleco you chose. They wont bother with the brown algea much.


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## aznphil (Jul 20, 2011)

Jackson said:


> How is a loach a pleco?
> 
> Pleco= catfish
> 
> ...


Some loaches are labelled sometimes as plecos and vice versa at the LFS. I agree with the name.

Nevertheless to the OP just be aware you are mixing tropical species (68F-75F) with cold water species/goldfish (~70F), they will never be happy in the same conditions. And we are just talking about temperature only, nevermind other parameters.

Sorry for being pessimistic but just trying to inform ppl, way too many people assume plecos are "hardy" enough for any conditions.


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## aznphil (Jul 20, 2011)

Ryan.Wilton said:


> This information is incorrect, there are such things as cold water plecos.
> 
> Honk Kong Plecos, also known as hill stream loaches are part of L. family. They have the same tendencies as their larger relatives, except they come from fast moving streams, with temperature between 68F-75F.


sorry to be a *&^% but wanted to correct this as well: hill stream loaches (including "Hong Kong pleco") are of famly Balitoridae, plecos are of family loricariids. Same water conditions different species.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

aznphil said:


> Some loaches are labelled sometimes as plecos and vice versa at the LFS. I agree with the name.
> 
> Nevertheless to the OP just be aware you are mixing tropical species (68F-75F) with cold water species/goldfish (~70F), they will never be happy in the same conditions. And we are just talking about temperature only, nevermind other parameters.
> 
> Sorry for being pessimistic but just trying to inform ppl, way too many people assume plecos are "hardy" enough for any conditions.


To the first part of your reply

I don't know how you couldn't see that I know the difference between the two types of fish.

Hong kong pleco is a really bad common name. 
As you can see it only confuses people.

I didn't dispute that common name.

I just pointed out that they're not the same type of fish. 
Same thing you did in your reply to the same member I was replying to.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

You might want to consider getting a few nerite snails for this tank. They love brown algae and will eat it eagerly. I get it in the uplift tubes, and they will actually crawl into the tubes and clean them better than I can. I sometimes have to rescue them if they get stuck at the bottom of the tube when they're done. 
Thorny or Horned nerites are quite small, attractive snails, and there are also the somewhat larger Zebra nerites. Both will eat brown algae happily. They don't reproduce in fresh water, so you won't get a population explosion, and they are a tidal snail, so cooler temps don't seem to bother them. They will lay eggs though, singly, on driftwood or rocks. Some folks dislike the appearance of the eggs, but I find they tend to just wear off with time, and in any case it does not bother me. Give them a try, they're quite effective.


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## mousey (Mar 28, 2011)

Thanks for the tip about the snails. I will have to check out Big Al's when they do their sale in a couple of weeks. Do nerites live a long time??

I don't want to treat any plecs badly.!!


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

make sure you dont get snails that are too small. As the goldfish will make meals out of the small ones.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I truly do not know how long a Nerite snail lives. I believe they are harvested from the wild, rather than bred commercially. So they could be young or old when you get one. I don't know any way to tell. If anyone knows more about that, be interested to learn it. 

They are a brackish water species. They live where the tides go in and out, so they spend a fair bit of time out of water. They are able to adapt extremely well to straight FW conditions, but their eggs won't hatch without brackish water. If I get my brackish tank set up, I plan to try hatching Nerite eggs. Be interesting to see if I have success, but it won't be for awhile.

The Zebra or Striped Nerite is the larger of the two species I mentioned. Perhaps it would be less likely to be a fish snack, though I suppose it depends just how large the fish in question is. So far as I have observed, none of my Zebra or Striped Nerites have grown any larger after I got them home. Most seem to be mature adult size in the stores.

The Horned or Thorny Nerite isn't quite half the size of the Zebra type, but it has those common names because it has two or three fairly sharp spikes protruding from its shell. So it might not be very appealing as a snack. I'd think those spines would be a painful mouthful. I've noticed a few very small Thorny Nerites did grow a bit after I got them, but they are a small species. Full grown ordinary Ramshorns are larger than a Thorny Nerite, though a different shape.

Both species will sometimes crawl out of a tank, so it is best to have some sort of cover, even if only a screen. I doubt they have suicide in mind, but they may fall off the tank rim. I have found one dead outside the tank. 

Most just spend time sitting on the tank rim and then go back in the water. It's normal for them in nature to be out of water for parts of the day, but I'm not sure why they do this in aquariums. Just something to be aware of. 

They can survive quite some time out of water. If you find one on the floor, I'd put in back in the tank and see if it opens up after awhile. If it never opens up, then you know it was out of water too long.

I have also heard from a few LFS types that if a Nerite snail falls on its back, it won't be able to right itself and will drown. I've never seen this happen. They are slow to right themselves, compared to most other common snails, but they manage it.

Seems to me if they really can't right themselves, then I should see a number of dead Nerites in the tanks, but I don't think I've seen any. Just the one I think fell off the rim outside.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

I still say Hillstreams are the best bet. Beyond not being "true" plecos.... They still have the same tendencies and eat the algae. Snails have always been played with as soccerballs in any goldfish tank I've ever kept so I discourage against them highly.


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