# Bottom feeders



## Tessie (Mar 2, 2009)

Hi all,
What do you have as bottom feeders? I was told to get Clown Loaches

Tessie
PS I posted this in another place but I think it was wrong.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

You should post what fish you have or plan on getting.
Post information about the tank and your water as well.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Also consider what is readily available and not too hard to find.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

How big is your tank? That's important to know both for numbers and appropriateness.

If you're just looking for fish that will vacuum up the little food your cichlids miss (and the fry the cichlids produce) you can't beat synodontis:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/fa ... mily_id=13

if you're looking for algae-eating, many keep a Bristlenose pleco. Some have horror stories of eyes being eaten and worse, but that's not been my experience.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... cies_id=49

I have no experience with Clown Loaches, but I hear they're a bit delicate, are happiest in groups of five or more, and need _quite _a large tank once they're full grown.

kevin


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## Desi&lt;3 (Feb 13, 2008)

NO loaches 
http://www.loaches.com/articles/why-loa ... %20loaches
They are just not a good mix with africans.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Good link. That pretty much covers it.

And of course, one of the chain LFS here in the Toronto area has a 75 Malawi tank with Clown Loaches in it. No wonder people get these ideas.


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## Tessie (Mar 2, 2009)

My tank is a 55 gal just set it up for Malawi Cichlids. I am not new to aquarium fish i use to raise Discus.
My main question was what do you have as bottem feeders? :roll:

Thanks
Tessie


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Tessie said:


> My tank is a 55 gal just set it up for Malawi Cichlids. I am not new to aquarium fish i use to raise Discus.
> My main question was what do you have as bottem feeders? :roll:
> 
> Thanks
> Tessie


Hi Tessie,

I provided you with some good links about the two most popular bottom feeders among Malawi keepers. Desi<3 somewhat definitively answered a question you raised about Clown Loaches, even if you didn't want it answered. I think this information can be very useful if you check it out, although you may be pretty informed about plecos from your experience with Discus.

More useful than an informal poll, but here goes:
3 tanks, three Bristlenose plecos.

kevin


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## Metalshade (Feb 14, 2009)

I was told to get one BN Pleco for my 55G to keep it clean.
At a later time when the fish start breeding, I am supposed to add mult-cat (I forget how many) for fry control.

I had a similar, previous post that may help.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=189787


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You really don't need to have bottom feeders to eat extra food. If your Malawi let any food hit the substrate, you are overfeeding, LOL.

As mentioned, if you want a glass/rocks cleaner, use BN. And if you want cool fish on the bottom of your tank, get Synodontis. Bonus of fry eating if you get Synodontis Multipunctatus, they like to be in groups of 5-6.


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## Tessie (Mar 2, 2009)

DJRansome said:


> You really don't need to have bottom feeders to eat extra food. If your Malawi let any food hit the substrate, you are overfeeding, LOL.
> 
> As mentioned, if you want a glass/rocks cleaner, use BN. And if you want cool fish on the bottom of your tank, get Synodontis. Bonus of fry eating if you get Synodontis Multipunctatus, they like to be in groups of 5-6.


what is the best food to feed Flakes or sinking pellets?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

And if you want the smart fry to survive then go Synodontis lucipinnis a group 3-5 really do set off any Mbuna tank. I do not usually advocate mixing lakes but these guys at max of just 4" are still well able to look after themselves, happy at Mbuna type pHs and with Mbuna and are really are charming for the smaller 48" Mbuna type aquarium.
They help stir up the detritus/poo so it goes into the filters.

Not algae eaters but a real community member.

You might like em so much you will want to keep them more than the cichlids. :lol:

Sinking cichlid pellets are very good but be careful not to over feed!
Even better are the wafers they have to graze and can not overfeed so easy.
Veggie flake can be good if you have overfeeding tendencies and has more than enough nutrients for Mbuna, the catfish will even survive and breed recycling cichlid poo and the odd missed flake or pellet. Do not worry about them.

If you keep algae eating Mbuna I like them to get the algae rather than a bristle nose. Just keep em hungry and they will clean your rocks. Front glass can be kept clean with just a magnetic algae scraper no need to waist tank space on a ugly bristle nose esp if you do not like the look like me. :thumb:

I tried clown loaches with Mbuna, never again, they all seem to come with white spot and although they rid your tank of snails they did not do well for me. And no way are they good scavengers or good algae eaters.


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

> what is the best food to feed Flakes or sinking pellets?


It depends on the size of your fish. Larger fish won't get enough from flakes and smaller fish may not be able to eat a pellet.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

I keep red tail botia and many other loaches with my africans.
I've done it for years and all is well, never had a problem.


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## walleye (Aug 20, 2007)

I have clown loaches with my fish. I think what helps is to have plenty of caves for the loaches. Mine are happy and haven't had any issues with them. They need to have hiding places of their own. They doubled in size about 6-8 months. I now have 4"and 2+" loaches with syno cats and african cichlids.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I feed New Life Spectrum (NLS) Cichlid Formuma 1mm sinking pellets exclusively. Once they are bigger than fry (one inch) they have no problem with the pellet size.


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## Tessie (Mar 2, 2009)

Thank you for all your advice, I have learned a lot  I already had bought 3 Clown Loaches I do have lots of caves and did check them for Ick before I bought them. 
I love their colors and have always had them in other tanks.

Next time I'll ask first then buy :wink:


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