# Rosy barbs are the devil in a planted tank.



## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I have a pretty nice moss grow out tank with a ton of light and Co2 to the point where fish can barely breathe at the end of the night.

Anyway, I noticed one thread of algae on one of the mosses which wasn't a big deal since I could have easily taken it off with my tweezers. I was coming back from a bar with a friend and across the street was a PETCO. Decided to stop by and get a mean algae cleaning crew. I picked up a few amano shrimp, two rosy barbs and black mollies. All of these have a claim to fame when it comes to eating various types of algae. I put them in my tank and the amonos went into hiding....mollies just sat there doing nothing but the rosy barbs went right to work. They ate any dead plant matter floating in the tank...then they ate the thread algae that was just sitting there (actually saw them doing it)....and then they started to chew on my christmas moss and fissidens. Needless to say, I scooped them out and they are going back tomorrow morning. They lasted a whole 3 hours in my tank before being taken out. I guess having amanos should be enough...especially since I have no algae left at this point. Don't make the same mistake that I did and purchase these fish.

My moss tank:


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Good thought, you just pushed the envelope with the Rosys.

The only barb I would, and do keep with plants are Cherrys. I'm actually off to a LFS to get some Amano's tomorrow. I don't know id SAE's eat moss or not, I think they are worth having if you can find _*REAL*_ SAE's.

This is a good video to help you learn what to look for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnJYdLSoso

You might NOT want to shop for SAEs after being in a Bar, just saying'. :wink:


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

DogFish said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnJYdLSoso
> 
> You might NOT want to shop for SAEs after being in a Bar, just saying'. :wink:


Thanks for the video. Now that I think about it, I probably do not need anything in the tank but some amanos. I had one thread of algae and panicked by picking up almost every possible algae eating shrimp/fish.

Yeah, I'm done fish shopping after having a few drinks. I've never in my entire life purchased such an eclectic mix of fish/shrimp from a petstore let alone PETCO. The amano shrimp are about 2.5 inches which is nice for a change...all my CRS in another tank are tiny compared to this guy. I couldn't believe that PETCO had them for 2 bucks...labeled as Japanese Algae Eating Shrimp.

Edit:
Just found this about the SAE...looks like they might go after moss.
http://www.aquamoss.net/Articles/Siamese-Algae-Eater-And-Aquatic-Moss.htm


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

No question it's good to have cleaning help. 

More important is to get a the tank in balance so you don't get outbreaks.
I just pushed the envelope with homemade frets and paid for it with hair algae myself. But, if it was too easy it would NOT be and fun.


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## keithy (Jun 8, 2010)

DogFish said:


> Good thought, you just pushed the envelope with the Rosys.
> 
> The only barb I would, and do keep with plants are Cherrys. I'm actually off to a LFS to get some Amano's tomorrow. I don't know id SAE's eat moss or not, I think they are worth having if you can find _*REAL*_ SAE's.
> 
> ...



My SAE does not seem to bother my java moss. But I cannot tell if the species in general will or will not do the same.


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## ony (Apr 1, 2011)

+1 Dogfish. If this hobby was easy most of us would have gotten bored with it and moved on. 

Thanks for the heads up on rosys. I was vaguely considering them since both my tanks have spontaneously developed hair algae. Very odd since the only consistent factor in both tanks is that I do weekly water changes with the same tap water... At least the big tank only had a couple of small patches.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

So I bagged the rosy barbs in the morning and went out for some brunch....took me about 2 hours before actually getting to Petco. I took one last look at them in the bag and noticed that their poop was the same exact color as my Christmas moss which has a very distinct color. Not only did I see the savages snacking on my moss but now I had the evidence to prove it. Needless to say, I returned them to PETCO and they didn't even ask any questions.


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## Aquachic (Apr 6, 2011)

Rosy barbs do love plants. They are herbivores. Grin. I do have them in my tank but I put more durable plants. It's a matter of experimenting with them to see what they eat. I do know that they love duckweed so that might work as a distraction if you have them in a tank. I wouldn't do fuzzy stuff with them. I tried that grass stuff and it all got trimmed to a golf course size and pretty much ended up at the top floating.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Aquachic said:


> Rosy barbs do love plants. They are herbivores. Grin. I do have them in my tank but I put more durable plants. It's a matter of experimenting with them to see what they eat. I do know that they love duckweed so that might work as a distraction if you have them in a tank. I wouldn't do fuzzy stuff with them. I tried that grass stuff and it all got trimmed to a golf course size and pretty much ended up at the top floating.


How fast do they eat duckweed?


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