The Pleco is of the Loricariidae family. The Chinese Algae Eater is of the Gyrinocheilidae family.
It depends on what you are calling an "algae eater." A pleco is considered a scaleless fish. A Siamese or Chinese algae eater does have scales.
6 inches
Yes, I have an Albino Corydoras catfish and he love to feast on the algae. Although they eat the algae, you may also want to buy them algae wafers or shrimp pellets just to make sure they are well fed!
Because when a Algae Eater becomes fully grown it likes to eat the slime coat off the other fish. ( NOT all Algae eaters though) for example the Chinese Algae Eater WILL eat the slime coat off the other fish when it is fully grown.
Yes
It is probably getting into fights with some of the other fish in the tank.
Are you talking about a golden algae eater? If so then they will eat any algae that is in your tank which is the green stuff that gets on the walls and decorations and if you don't have much or any of that you can feed them algae wafers which are green flat disks that you should be able to get at any fish store.
around 2 to 2 and a half years.
Try aquatic snails, like apple snails.
i think the best is a albino algae eater is the best.
if an algae eater is dead than it will definitely not move anymore. The algae eater could also be alive and just resting. You can take a small stick and touch the algae eater to see if it will move.