I need an algae eater (OR SOMETHING)

[WaterBaby]

The algae in my tank is gross (I'm sorry, I'm a neat freak and don't consider alot of algae growing all over the place beautiful like some of you would). A little is OK...

I'd like to get some kind of algae eater, but don't know if I have the room in my tank. It's kind of overstocked (I think)...

20gallon long: pH 7.6-7.8, no nitrites, ammonia and nitrates about 10-20ppm

1 Red eye tetra
2 Lemon tetras
5 Sissortails
2 Flame Gouramis
4 Cories

I do water changes/vacuum every 2 weeks. I have a few live plants/silks and a cave system for hiding out. I also have a sandy spot for the cories.

Any suggestions, or am I overstocked as it is?

[thecareys]

you could get a small pleco
ghost shrimp are really cool and eat algea but you better goto a pet store to get them cause if you get them online you can only get them in 100 packs the smallest

i wouldnt even put that many in my 55

[mrbigisbudgood]

Originally posted by thecareys
you could get a small pleco
ghost shrimp are really cool and eat algea but you better goto a pet store to get them cause if you get them online you can only get them in 100 packs the smallest

i wouldnt even put that many in my 55

Going price on Ghost Shrimp is usually 4/$1.00. Even if one of your fish has an appetite for them, it's no big loss. They WILL mow down any alge in your tank and keep your gravel cleaner.

[Locust]

Amano shrimp are good algae eaters, as well. With shrimp, you'll need a lot of them (1 for every 2-3 gallons to see any kind of impact). The good news is that they have a negligible impact on your tank's bioload, so tossing a bunch in shouldn't be a problem.

[thecareys]

yeah besides shrimp are cool looking they make the tank look more natural with diffrent critters and such

[valerie]

First off we nee dto know what type of algae it is.All algae eaters eat different kind of algae.

Otos are best at brown
Bristlenose plecos eat soft green and brown algae
amano shirmp eat green and hair algae(althought you need A LOT of them)
SAE eat hair algae and BBA
etc,ect....

So which type do yo uhave?

[Prometheus]

FWIW, my local LFS stores normally carry the shrimp at 12 for 2 bucks...

I'm going to buy a dozen tomorrow just for the heck of it...

[yhbae]

What is the ideal temp for their survival?

Recently, I had to treat the whole tank because of ich and after two weeks of 87F, I don't see any shrimps in my tank... Not sure if all 4 of them have been eaten or died - I don't see any trace of them...

[WaterBaby]

My Community Tank has your standard looking (I guess you'd call it) soft algae and also hair algae (don't know where that came from).

I went looking for any kind of shrimp at alot of local stores, and none have any at this time. The distributors must not have stock at this time, but I'll keep checking.

Like I said before, I would like an oto or plec, but don't know if I'm already overstocked. Am I? But shrimp sound cool too.

[ewok]

i would go with oto's.

you may be cutting it close on the overstock issue, but the oto's are tiny. they are very industrious for the size tho and have pretty well controlled the algae in any tank i've kept them in. the problem with oto's is they may not be very hardy at first, you may experience some losses. any that live past a month or so should be good tho. you will also want like 3 or 4 probably because they like to school somewhat.

i don't see shrimp as having much of an impact.......

[yhbae]

Another problem with Oto (at least for me) is that they don't touch the green stuff much - they are much more intrested in the brown algae... This is what forced me to get some bristlenose pl*cos.

Newer tanks with brown algae gets otos, older tanks with only green algaes get bristlenoses now... :D

I want to look into amano shrimps, but over here, they cost $4 each, and I'm not sure the reason for loosing all ghost shrimps were due to the temperature (during ich treatment) or other fishes have eaten them. So looks like I'll have to buy some more ghost shrimps to experiment before spending $30 on amano shrimps...

[Catlid]

since u guys were talking about inverts, i got a tank with african cichlids and pictus cats, would clams do well in my tank or crayfish? fish wont eat them will they?

[plantman1028]

If you have a ZOOs pet store near you they sell the ghost shrimp 10 for a buck!!!!!Can't beat that!!

[valerie]

I have heard clams dont' do well in tanks at all, almost always die as they can't get enough food or you buy them and they are already half dead. They need sand to bury themselves and if they die since they are buried you can't tell and they pollute the water.

Crayfish arne't good in tanks with fish. They will try and eat anyhtign in the tank. I used to have a crayfish an dit ate all the fish i tried to keep with it,along with all my plants.

The only inverts i keep in my community tanks is ammano shrimps and other kinds of smaller shrimp species. But you have to make sure with these guys that whatever you are keeping with them won't eat them.

[WaterBaby]

I did buy some ghost shrimp (about 9). Put them into the tank..

Then.........

I had to move them cause I thought I might have a parasite problem in the 20gal.... :mad: and had to treat the tank (it figures) they were not fun to catch.......... They are quite the little jumpers,, I had to look around the room for one or two of them that got out of the net..


So now they are in my betta tank (there are only 6 left). I'm not going fishing for them again... They seem to be doing OK. They hang out on the floating plants.

So.............


Now I have to look for more for my 20gal

;)

[KarlskidMarx]

I used to have amano shrimp in my aqaurium and they were amazing regarding tank cleanup and they ate alot of algea as well.

As for ghost shrimp, I have never heard of them eating algea and of the few people I know who have them, they have never seen them impact algea at all.

Amanos are a little bit more expensive, but well worth it, just keep festivums outta your tank if you want the shrimp to stick around.:(