Clean Up Fish????????

[joeyg2100]

I have a 35 gallon Hex tank that I am setting up for breeding Blue Ram's. My question is what catfish would work good for cleaning up left over food? I want one that will not eat the eggs from the rams, and one that will fit in this tank.

I was thinking maybe a Otto cat. Any help is appriciated. Thanks

[liv2padl]

I want one that will not eat the eggs from the rams there's no such fish. any nocturnal catfish/plecostomus will certainly eat the eggs.

[joeyg2100]

What about some mystery snails?

[Squawkbert]

I don't think MTS or pond snails eat fish eggs, but I'm not certain. There are several shrimp species that eat algae, left overs etc. but I suspect that they'd eat eggs too.

Do Rams defend their eggs like Kribs etc. do? If so, maybe a mild mannered cat (oto, SAE) would work...

[daniel364]

i thought ottos were strictly vergeterain? o

[Malefic23]

Ottos are 99 percent vegitarian, but I also think you'd be better off with snails.

[sarcare]

Quite frankly, rams will keep the bottom clean enough, and you can do the rest. The use of a gravel cleaner and algae scrapper will help. If it is a breeding tank, many people will set it up with a bare bottom to keep it squeeky clean. Rams can bully bottom feeders, and a hex doesn't have much bottom.

[jgulecas]

MTS are carnivorous and far more likely to eat eggs than otos. I wouldn't keep MTS in any tank intended for breeding.

Otos would be great for this tank in terms of eating algae. I have'm and love'm. But I wonder if the rams would tolerate their presence.

[jm1212]

in a breeding tank you need to keep the bioload to a minimum so you can raise the fry in a cery clean environment. i say you just scrape the algea yourself. an algea eater that comes across the eggs will eat them.