Algae eating goby

[niko]

Oh they eat algae allright! I don't think that any of the common algae eating animals that we normally keep (amanos, saes, otos) can do what this goby did.

Here's the goby;

http://www.invertzfactory.com/images...cyopterus7.JPG
http://www.invertzfactory.com/images...cyopterus8.JPG
http://www.invertzfactory.com/images...icyopterus.JPG
http://www.invertzfactory.com/images...cyopterus9.JPG

And here is what one of them did in a 10 gal. tank. The entire glass on the left and the glass on the back were covered with brown algae. You can still see some left to get an idea how heavy the algae layer was. It took a single goby only 2-3 hours to clear it to what you see on the picture. This morning the glass looked polished with maybe about 5% of the original algae left:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6708/99909765.jpg

These gobies are of the genus Syciopterus. They eat only dust like food, but not only algae. My tanks don't have enough algae so I grind a mix of algae tablets, dry pellets and decaped brine shrimp eggs. I use a pepper grinder and make a powder. Then I add a teaspoon or two of water and dump in the tank.

--Nikolay

[KDahlin]

Can you tell me how big they get?

[milalic]

Originally Posted by KDahlin

Can you tell me how big they get?

around 3-4"

[cah925]

will they eat BBA?

[milalic]

Originally Posted by cah925

will they eat BBA?

not sure