Just for reference, in my 10-gallon, I have a goldfish, a (pregnant) blue lobster, about a dozen ghost shrimp and two rosey reds. Occasionally (once a month) I use one of those magnets to clean the (very little) algae off the sides of the tank. I have never had an algae problem, and I have no live plants.
A good algae eater
- Thread starter Gumby131
- Start date
yer thaey have large yellow snails at my local fish shop so next time im there i might grab a couple
Gumby131 said:
There are two different types, and I'll ask my gf specifically which ones you want. One type eats plants and the other doesnt.
Snails would be a great addition. I am going to kick myself for saying this because it seems like everyone hates the Walmart pet dept., but they have common plecos in with their goldfish. When my goldfish were small enough to put in our 20 gallon tank I didn't have an algae problem. I just cleaned the tank and filters when needed.
look for apple snails, also called "Mystery" snails.
they come in many different colors, the natural ones are brown, there are also gold, purple, blue, green, and orange varieties, but they are usually not very commonly available.
apple snails are DEFINATELY male OR female, not both, and they cannot switch on you. you need a male and a female for them to mate. they lay a large clutch of pink-colored eggs above the water line, so even if they do mate, the eggs are easy to remove and flush or throw away or whatever. just scrape them off.
i reccomend getting the brown or black apple snails. they tend to be much hardier. i've had both gold and black and the gold ones didn't grow and their shells chipped away and they all died. whereas the black ones, which i got at the same time as the golds, doubled in size and did great with perfect shells.
they come in many different colors, the natural ones are brown, there are also gold, purple, blue, green, and orange varieties, but they are usually not very commonly available.
apple snails are DEFINATELY male OR female, not both, and they cannot switch on you. you need a male and a female for them to mate. they lay a large clutch of pink-colored eggs above the water line, so even if they do mate, the eggs are easy to remove and flush or throw away or whatever. just scrape them off.
i reccomend getting the brown or black apple snails. they tend to be much hardier. i've had both gold and black and the gold ones didn't grow and their shells chipped away and they all died. whereas the black ones, which i got at the same time as the golds, doubled in size and did great with perfect shells.
