will plecs eat lichens

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 17 Aug 2005, 09:18

i have them growing in one of my tanks (with tons of algae)and i want to know if a plec would safely eat them. would it just be more fibre in its diet?
would there be any side effects?

thanks for any/all help

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 17 Aug 2005, 09:24

There are plenty of plecos that eat all sort of things, so I expect the "right one" would eat Lichens. I'm, however, not sure what the "right one" would be.

I'm sure the algae would be eaten by any generic algae eater (Ancistrus, Hypostomus, Pterogiplichtys(sp?) etc). Lichens is more likely to occur on a piece of wood, so perhaps more likely to be natural diet of a Panaque or former cochliodon member of the Hypostomus family, perhaps.

These are just my thoughts, of course... I've never (to the best of my knowledge) had any lichen in my tanks...

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Mats

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 17 Aug 2005, 09:28

i was thinking of using a common plec or a ancistris

Panaque or former cochliodon

yeah i sort on knew that but i don't have the $500 to by one

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 17 Aug 2005, 11:30

I wasn't thinking of a Royal Pleco, but rather something like a , which I'm sure even with inflated australian prices would be somewhat more achievable... [But I don't know what costs how much in Australia, as it seems it can be "anything for ridiculous amount of money"].

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Mats

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 18 Aug 2005, 07:44

they are about$500

i wanted to know if either common plec or ancistris are able of eating lichens

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 19 Aug 2005, 07:15

i will use a common plec then

thanks

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 19 Aug 2005, 08:32

do lichens even grow under water?

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 19 Aug 2005, 10:28

obviously yes, why else would i ask what would eat them in an established aquarium

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 19 Aug 2005, 11:34

what i mean is, are you sure they're lichens? got any photos?

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 20 Aug 2005, 01:14

I know they can tolerate wet environments, but here's a quote from the Smithsonian Institute's dept for biology's website....

"Some lichens are able to tolerate salt spray on coastal cliffs and periodic inundation by fast-moving streams; however, no lichen is truly aquatic."

I've never heard of an aquatic lichen. as far a i know they are out competed in all aquatic environments by algae.

natefrog · Post by **natefrog** » 20 Aug 2005, 03:03

A lichen is actually a symbiotic organism that is host fungi living contently with an algal counterpart. Two entirely different kingdoms of organisms and yet in an obligate mutualistic form.

There are obviously aquatic fungus and aquatic algae; however, I am not aware of any aquatic, (whether fresh or marine), lichens. Lichens thrive in marginal terrestrial habitats where their very slow growth does not prevent them from being competitive, this generally means dead branches near the base of very large trees, exposed rock outcroppings, or arctic tundra and alpine escarpments.

Sorry for the nerd report.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 20 Aug 2005, 10:38

A lichen is actually a symbiotic organism that is host fungi living contently with an algal counterpart.

I know

MDOU · Post by **MDOU** » 21 Aug 2005, 03:01

the lichens came in off a piece of wood that i was growing tillandsias on.

the lichen out compeated the algae on that piece of wood and then started to spread onto the near by coconut shell and log.

but now the common plec has done a good job of eating it and there is very little left