RE: NANFA-L-- is there a north American option for algae

Crail, Todd (tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:08:33 -0400

I always keep stonerollers, but that's because I think they're interesting.

Algae grazing is definately a "drop back and punt" mechanism for them. In the
world of aquaria, there's too much other good stuff to eat, and while they do
graze, they will not "solve" an algae problem. You're only going to address
that by changing the nutrient export of your system, which can involve water
changes, filtration, lighting, etc.

You'll also find as they get older, they won't bother to eat the algae
anymore. They'll sit and wait for the good stuff, the greedy little
cyprinids they are :)

We should also define "algae"... They won't touch blackbrush or cyano. If
cladophora and other stringie greens get too long, they won't touch it. A
little brown or green film, they'll graze in aquaria, and you'll get all sorts
of neat hatch marks on rocks and such. But that's about as much as you can
expect.

Basically... If you're used to SAE's... You'll be disappointed with what
stonerollers will accomplish.

But I don't want to discourage keeping this fish, as they are fun to watch,
esp when you have heavy lateral current, and they do their little dance that
is their namesake.

Todd
The Muddy Maumee Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com

________________________________

From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org on behalf of Christopher Scharpf
Sent: Tue 6/20/2006 10:08 PM
To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- is there a north American option for algae control?

> Is there a North American equivalent to an Otto, or a Siamese Algae eater?

Stonerollers.

Ecologically, stonerollers are "creek cows" in that they convert the energy
of "lowly" foods such as algae, detritus, and diatoms into a biomass usable
by carnivores. So formidable is their talent for grazing that a large school
of stonerollers can significantly reduce the amount of standing algae in a
stream. Ecologists William J. Matthews and Mary E. Power saw this first hand
when they examined pools in Oklahoma's Brier Creek. Some of the pools had
profuse algal growth while others had just scant patches. When Mary
suggested it was the grazing of stonerollers that controlled the algae, Bill
was skeptical. Later, Bill and Mary placed algal-covered substrates into a
pool with stonerollers and into another pool without. Stonerollers swarmed
to the algae in the one pool and ate most of it in minutes. (However,
stonerollers are not exclusively vegetarian; zooplankton, insects, worms,
fish eggs, and fish scales are also opportunistically taken.)

Chris Scharpf
Baltimore
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org <http://www.nanfa.org/> Please make sure all
posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml