Cleaning the bottom of my tank.

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ndillonsc

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What type of fish are available to help me control the waste on the bottom of my tank that the pleco leaves behind without having to vacume every other day. Is there a "Cleaner" type fish that I can get? :idea2:

Setup:
- 55 Gallon
- 2 x 330 Penguin Filters
- 3 Live Plants

Fish:
- 2 Angels
- 1 Freshwater Puffer
- 1 Sailfin Pleco
- 1 Pictus Catfish
- 8 Zebra Danios
- 5 Serpae Tetra's (Starter Fish)
 
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Just about any fish from the catfish category would be a good bottom feeder. Maybe consider a small school of cory's or clown loaches to take up the bottom feeding slack left by the pleco. There is also a specific forum on this website for Cory's and Bottom Feeders where you might be able to get some additional insight into species.

However, it might be wise to consider why you feel you must vacuum the substrate every other day. It doesn't appear to be overstocked, so is it possible you are overfeeding them? Is there alot of algae in the tank that you can take other measures to control against? No amount of bottom feeding or "cleaner" fish can take the place of diligent tank maintenance so it might be time to consider your routine while also considering the addition of bottom-feeders.
 
What type of fish are available to help me control the waste on the bottom of my tank that the pleco leaves behind without having to vacume every other day. Is there a "Cleaner" type fish that I can get?
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There is no fish that eats fish waste. If you got some bottom feeders, you'd have to feed them properly, and they'd contribute to the waste problem. Thats one of the biggest turn off of plecos, they poop so much. Awesome fish though, but i won't buy one again.
 
I love my little clown pleco although he is only about 2 and a half inches long ,he seems clean.
My platies are the poop machines. They hog everthing that goes in the tank
eat algae too and constantly seem to have a (turd ) hanging. It makes me cry, cause I hardly feed them except for a tiny pinch, but they seem to poop all day long. I'm constantly vacuuming. :rant:
 
Im reading this whilst eating my lunch!
:eek:
 
I have 2 regular plecos one is 3 inches long and the other is about 2 inches and I don't really have a big problem with their poo maybe it is because i have massive over kill for filtration. There are some crabs that would clean up the tank floor isnt there?
 
There is no fish, shrimp or other critter that will eat fish poop. The only way to get rid of fish poop is to vacuum/siphon your tank regularly. I used to do my water changes using a bucket, and once per month use a turkey baster to clean the gravel... then I got a pleco, and a Python!

~Tara
 
dwayne said:
There is no fish, shrimp or other critter that will eat fish poop.
~Tara
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While this is technically true, what some bottom feeders do is to pick through the "debris" and eat undigested food thereby reducing the volume of "debris" in the tank. IME shrimp are great for this as the are cheap and don't contribute much to the bioload.

You will still end up with waste on the bottom of the tank but maybe not as much.
 
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