(Neat picture, I wondered why the e-mail took longer to load!)
These have all worked for me too. However from the perspective of
rainbow people, have the SAEs as they get older and more territorial
ever presented a problem with rainbows?
Also I have a concern about many of the wild caught and fish farm
raised suckermouth catfishes. Sometimes they are vectors for a variety
of diseases and parasites. I forgot this when a new enthusiast in our
general club bestowed some Otocinclus (probably wild caught) on me and I
neglected to quarrentine them or run them through a preventative bath
(salt water for external goodies and formulin for internal stuff
according to the Shedd Aquarium people). Although the other fish in the
set-up were uneffected, a number of Corys, a couple of other
suckermouths and an 8 inch Ancistris (easily 8 years old) all cashed it
in very quickly. A nearby discus breeder not long after brought in some
large "standard plecos" probably raised in Florida and said goodbye to
several nice discus shortly thereafter.
Now any wild catfish go in tanks separate from anything we were lucky
enough to breed. I much prefer locally bred bristlenoses, et al, on the
assumption that several disease cycles their wild brethern may have
connected with were interrupted in succeeding generations of aquarist
raising.
Aside from problems where new catfish have brought surprises in for the
resident catfish, is there the likelyhood of catfish carried maladies
effecting rainbows? My only case was where what I assume was velvet got
loose with young featherfins and home raised bristlenoses. (The I.
werneri responded better to treatment than did the Ancistris.)
Thanks,
Scott Davis