How many algae eating species for 65gal?

It's tough to say... It really depends on what kind of algae you are talking about. Is this a planted tank? Otos tend to like soft surface films only. Different shrimp are better at eating different kinds of algae. The angels would live some little shrimp snacks, so the temperament of your angels and other fish will make a difference too. Amanos are bigger, so they stand a better chance, but they may end up being harassed to death, so it's still a risk. Snails are a great choice, generally speaking, but again it depends on the algae. Just don't expect perfection from any algae eating crew.

Algae wafers are a fine food to feed algae eaters... they will be appreciated no matter the crew mix.

^word for word what I'd have said. I use carni sticks for my loaches and 8" hifin pleco, but still drop in 5 algae thins to make sure everyone gets a well rounded diet. Nerites are super fun to watch and help with algae, just don't buy fish that eat snails.

Otos are pretty good about cleaning plants, but I have never once seen an oto on the glass. It's probably going to take a team of nerites to keep the glass clean. 10-12, I'd say. Amanos are very active and don't seem picky about surfaces IME. You can probably get along with 4 since you have the 4 otos too. That's a big tank... you sure you don't want some live plants in there? Of course I plant EVERY tank, so you might have to ignore me haha!

Sounds like opportunistic Otos... that or mine can't beat the CAEs and snails to the glass.

8 in alkalinity isn't a big deal for plants. That's almost what mine is out of the tap. I have a wide variety of fish and plants. Hardness would limit you a little, BUT the plants would also remove some of the minerals that cause hardness taking it up as nutrients. There is a correlation between hardness and pH... lower one; the other will follow and vice versa. So in concept you could tame your water with plants provided that you don't have other problems like some do with nitrates straight out of the tap. Most common valisnerias, dwarf sag, mosses, water wisteria, frogbit, java fern, and a bunch of hardy stem plants will all do fine IME. Think local lake... if it will grow there, it will likely grow in your well water. If it wasn't so dang cold, I'd send you some freebies to try out, but they would not appreciate that journey right now, and you would get a box full of mush! Think about it, and hit me up when it warms up

Hey Swan,

I am an Engineer. Whenever an unexpected problem arises, I do what is called Root Cause Analysis. Yes you can get some algae eaters to make your tank look better, but what happens when they multiply, or grow larger? Then Your bio load could increase and you may, or may not be in the same boat again. Then it can turn into a viscous cycle.

I am (and usually am) with zorro on this. If you had plants in the tank that would eat the nutrients necessary for the algae, then this wouldn't be an issue. Marimo moss balls are cool and require almost no care. Just a thought.

On another note, I keep cherry shrimp. They do a great job cleaning the tank. All except the algae. They pick at it, and like algae wafers, they just don't like to clean anything that i want them to clean as well as i would like. I cannot speak for Amano's as I've never kept them however.

Hope this has helped

That is great news! Maybe I just got a lazy group before haha


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