# Rosy Barbs eat algae, right?



## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

So.... I read somewhere (prolly here or another forum) that rosy barbs ate hair algae. I took 2 from one tank and put them into the main tank and watched. They kind of go around jerking at the leaves, but not like the kissing motion that mollys and platies make. Is it really eating the algae or just spazzing out???


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

I heard from a member hear that they do- he mentioned that they eat it faster than anything he has seen. I'll have to give them a try.


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## [RK] (Aug 11, 2005)

A SAE eradicated my entire 24gal tank off hair algae in jsut over 24hours. So if youre looking to control hair algae, maybe try an SAE


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

They will eat algae...hair type, but they will also munch on fine leaved plants too. IMO a great "ugly" algae eater is a dalmation molly. Or black molly. My girlfriend has a male that works wonders in her 10g tank. Kind of interesting since it tries to procreate with her white clouds, betta, driftwood, heater....a really really confused fish. Its quite a sight to see the Betta get "propositioned" and then flare up at the molly and chase him around.


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## jgc (Jul 6, 2005)

[RK] said:


> A SAE eradicated my entire 24gal tank off hair algae in jsut over 24hours. So if youre looking to control hair algae, maybe try an SAE


currious, how big is your sae. LFS(s) said they will have some next week, but was trying to figure out how many small ones to stock.

Or maybe I should just start breeding mollies


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## Kyle (Jul 19, 2005)

I have 2 SAE's in my 10g which are probably somewhere about 1.25" long. I'm not sure they do as much as my Otos or Amanos do, but they do zip around alot.


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## newshound (May 9, 2005)

I posted a link to a website that praised rosys. It was for a low tech tank idea...
http://www.aquabotanic.com/fishytale.htm
the only real problem I have with the artical is that he'd get rid of the loaches after eating all the snails!

Loach pimp #1 :icon_roll


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## bigpow (May 24, 2004)

in my case, that's wrong.
I bought six because I thought so too, but they're just worthlesssss


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## newshound (May 9, 2005)

bigpow said:


> in my case, that's wrong.
> I bought six because I thought so too, but they're just worthlesssss


 :icon_roll 
haha
I keep mine because I am worried about another snail break out.


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## newshound (May 9, 2005)

sorry us loachers kinda hijacked the thread :tongue: 
I do want to read more experances with these fish (the barbs). I was going to get some barbs too but every store only has the females and I want a mix.
I like to run a low tech tank and enjoy working fish (loaches, pl*cos, SAE etc...)
The bottom of my tank is too busy already with an overload of loaches
Doing daily testing and all the chemicals isn't my ideal of fun to control hair algae.
So lets hear it about the Rosys and hair algae!
any others?
the writer of that artical on working fish did note that the barbs do nibble at the java moss too.


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