# Which fish are "poop machines"?



## you (Jan 29, 2004)

I've been browsing the forums for a while now, but whenever I see fish recommendations I never see which fish are the best/worst for the tank.

On the chat last night I was told that red-tailed sharks are "poop machines" which was a new category of information to me.

Where can I find out which fish are "poop machines"?

Thanks!


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## Slaigar (Jun 8, 2003)

I assume anything that is a scavenger is a fish constantly making waste. It also depends on how much you feed them, with most (if not all) fish having a bottomless stomach. Definitely can cause problems within smaller tanks: Plecos(some can just get huge), Corydoras, groups of loaches, I have been told Gold Fish.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that these are bad fish (I love loaches and Corydoras). Problems I can see are within tanks not cycled or tanks too small for the population.

Now I wonder, would we assume all catfish to be high waste producers?


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## mm12463 (Nov 22, 2003)

I called the Red Tail a poop machine last night. :wink: They get bigger and hence eat more therefore have more 'business' to conduct. Not a huge issue in an appropiate sized tank that is well maintaine. Those guys get pretty big too. 5 or 6 inches and will eat some smaller fish if they can. Friend has one right now. He really doesn't understand but has had 5 cardinals 'disappear'. He won't listen to me. So he keeps spending cash on cardinals to feed his shark. Silly guy.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Cold water fish, like gold fish, are the biggest poop machines....kind of like geese, but with fins!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

red-tailed carp


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Aren't all wide-bodied fish kinda poop machines? They have more mass than a flat fish of their length and have to eat and metabolize more. That includes plecos and goldfish of course...I think these bulky fish also get more pooping credit than they deserve because they poop in bigger fatter chunks than scrawny fish. These megapoops don't float away in the water like nice as small poops so they stick around and make their presence known. (I feel like I'm about to make an appearance on "South Park" any time now!)

To be fair, my goldfishes may poop alot, but they poop nuthin' compared to my plecos! I've seen strands almost 3 FEET long coming from them plecos!

Apple snails are also poop machines, but it breaks up and isn't as obvious. An infestation of pond snails is also a poop machine.


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## you (Jan 29, 2004)

Why would scavengers and cold water fish be worse than normal fish? Maybe the cold water fish are bulkier to reduce heat loss and it's back to the mass thing?

I can easily see that for fish load you should look at fish mass as opposed to length, and then after that shouldn't most fish should be the same load?

I wouldn't have thought that snails could be so bad either. Live and learn.


Thanks to mm12463 for starting me on this the other night and everyone else for their comments!


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## mm12463 (Nov 22, 2003)

Well guess I opened a can of worms huh? Speaking of worms anyone ever use worm poop, I believe they are called casts, for a substrate?


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

I think mass and activity levels are the main indicators of pooposity. And I'd bet that if all other factors were the same, a fish in WARM water would poop more (eat more) than if he were in COLD water. Of course, the only way to control for all factors would be to use the same fish. Yeah, my goldfish eat and poop more in warm water than cold. And any pond keeper would agree. But I guess Splash is saying that temperate species eat more than tropicals--not that if you moved an individual around, his poopiness wouldn't vary. I don't know if that's the case overall, but it seems to be a trend in common aquarium fish. 

but

I think most temperate species kept as pets just happen to be bulkier critters (carp, pretty much). How many cold-water fish are there kept in tanks? I can't think of any besides goldfish and perhaps a few other carp.

The bigger and more active you are, the more you eat, the more you poop. Some poop is more processed than other poop--different species probably have different capacities to digest whatever you're feeding them. Some poop is more obvious in a tank than other poop. And for most exothermic critters, metabolism increases with temperature (providing that the temperature is in a safe range for the critter) so you do get more eating/pooping.

heh heh I said poop. Poop!

By the way, my 23 lb cat is a poop machine. This fits neatly into our theory: my 6lb cat is NOT a poop machine.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

I think poopy goldfish might be more of an enzymatic/gut-microbe processing issue. I have heard that cold-water fish have evolved digestion & assimilation processes that work well in cold water, but are much less efficient than processes that have evolved in and are adapted for warmer water. Thus, for a given biomass of fish, more food must be consumed to extract the energy requirements. More food = more poop. :wink: 




Mori said:


> Yeah, my goldfish eat and poop more in warm water than cold. And any pond keeper would agree. But I guess Splash is saying that temperate species eat more than tropicals--not that if you moved an individual around, his poopiness wouldn't vary. I don't know if that's the case overall, but it seems to be a trend in common aquarium fish.


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## Mini4x (Feb 3, 2004)

A wise man once told me never to get a big dog.. When I asked why he said "Big dogs take BIG craps." 

I assume the same thing applies to fish.. so I keep tetras and dainos.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

if you can't see the poop, you can't pet the fish!


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Right on!  Moving the cold-water goldfish into a tropical tank speeds up its metabolism, but it doesn't alter the efficiency of its digestion and assimilation systems. So...you've just turbocharged your poop machine!



Mori said:


> And for most exothermic critters, metabolism increases with temperature (providing that the temperature is in a safe range for the critter) so you do get more eating/pooping.


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## you (Jan 29, 2004)

So what I should be asking is "Which fish have the most effecient digestive processes?".

It sounds like go with warmer water fish as the cold water fish need to use an inefficient process.


Of course I'm going to ignore all this information and just go with what looks good and has personality, but it will make a difference in a tie breaker situation.


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## mm12463 (Nov 22, 2003)

Yah but by asking that You, its just not as fun as asking which fish are pop machines!!


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Just don't get a big fish. You were planning on tropicals and not goldfish anyway, right? Keep the size down, filter alot, remember that poop is fertilizer, and don't worry about poop. I would say goldfish poop isn't a problem in a properly filtered tank, but large pleco poop IS because it is very very very very long and gets draped over plants and other fish and plecos like Mardi Gras beads on a girl gone wild. I keep goldfish and plecos together and I don't see goldfish poop. The goldfish have approximately the same mass as the plecos. And it's warm.

But you don't want giant plecos in your tank anyway so you're safe.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

If you wanted to avoid possible insult, you should ask which fish are not "digestively challenged." :lol: 




you said:


> So what I should be asking is "Which fish have the most effecient digestive processes?"


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

my fish can turn plants into poop faster than your fish!

(is that good or bad?)


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## skylsdale (Aug 26, 2003)

Oscars. Some of the biggest feces I have ever seen in an aquarium came from an oscar.


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## blk (Oct 25, 2003)

Well from what I've observed my pleco and especially my swordtails are the "poopiest". With the pleco it's noticeable because he's a big fish. However, pound-for-pound I'd say my swordtails are the champs. It's amazing, but just about every time I look at the two big females there's a big thick strand hanging off of one of them.


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