The old man

During the plant fest I bought three "red neon gobies" from HAW. So far they have not touched the bba even when dosed with excell and dying. Yesterday I saw one catch a nice sized red shrimp and devoured it slowly. I really think the ones I got are not algae eaters. Anyone else had this experience? They also do not show much color at all with only a little tinge of orange in the tail. They seem quite active now, but only going after fish food and shrimp.

Navarro

Old men I am deeply sorry for your loss but I am on the look for a fish that can work as a natural predator to keep things balanced.
I can buy them from you if you don't want them any more.
Regards,
Luis

Ajax

I think I've found my new best algae eating friends....black mollys. I was getting some pretty bad algae in my new tank, and the Amano shrimp & o-cats just weren't keeping up. I dumped 8 of those guys in there, and they immediately started cleaning it up. There was a huge difference over night. There's still a little green spot algae on the glass & rocks but they cleaned up pretty much everything else. Might be worth a try.

Bunbuku

Ajax what kind of algae do the black mollies eat? Do they take care of hair algae? Is true only for black mollies or do other mollies like the sailfin mollies eat algae?

Ajax

I had a few different types at the time....hair algae, staghorn, greenspot, BBA & some of that brown soft stuff that forms on driftwood when you first start a tank. It got to be a real mess in just 2 weeks. The mollys took care of all but the green spot. I'm not sure if the other mollys would work or not. I haven't ever really tried any others because I've had such good luck with the black ones.

davemonkey

I had the same experience with Black Mollies. Very good cleaners, never tried other mollies.

-Dave

The old man

I've got mollies and swordtails and they do keep the algae down, but they gotta be really hungry for the bba. No other algae has been a problem for me, but the BBA. Luis, I'll keep an eye on the gobies and see if they continue eating the shrimp and the fry of my livebearers. They really seem to be a predator as they sit in the java ferns and watch for shrimp and babies. I was quite surprised when they got the the red shrimp. It was a slow process as the head of the shrimp stuck out its mouth for awhile.

milalic

Hi there. From your description of the color in the tail of your gobies, it does not seem to be a red neon goby. Does it look like this one:

(this is a sicyopterus and not sure it likes eating BBA)


or this one:

(this is what is commonly refered as red neon goby which is a stiphodon and does it algae including BBA).

The old man

Mine looks like the first one, but the color is not nearly as intense. About the only color is the slight tinge on the back
sides with none on head. I'll be looking out for the second one next time I go shopping.

Paul Higashikawa

Well, it could be that the goby is the right one. Just that algae and shrimp are like salad and filet mignon. It's a no brainer What a smart guy. I would go after the shrimp(AKA:filet mignon) too, hehe!