Algae crew with Kribs

[BHRay]

I have a pair of Kribs in a 10g planted tank. They paired up right away and seem to have taken a liking to an inverted 4" clay pot on one side of the tank. Anyway, the clay pots seem to be an ideal surface for green algae growth. There is some other growth on some of the broad leaf plants, but it really is growing on the pots.

Is this something that I should worry about? I'm hoping that they will breed. They've dug most of the gravel out from under the pot and thrown it out through the opening in the pot that I made. Is there a cleanup fish, or other critter that I could use that would not have a negative impact on them breeding? I had snails and shrimp in a tank where a pair of gouramis mated. Needless to say, the eggs did not last overnite. There are no snails in the tank at this time. I have ghost shrimp, SAE, CAE, pleco, in the other tanks that I have. Nothing in this one.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Otos would work, and so would cory cats--my kribs leave them totally alone. If the algae is coming from excess nutrients, the cories would take care of it, and the otos just much algae all day. How about adding another plant or two?

-- Pat

 

[Sting]

Corries don't eat Algea.

 

[BHRay]

I like the plant idea. I just checked the nitrates. Reading was 15ppm. NH3 is 0. I do 20% weekly changes. Thought that it would have been lower. Maybe I'm over feeding? I wouldn't have thought that 15ppm was too high nutrient tho. So are you saying that the kribs leave the cories alone, or the otos, or both?

 

[Cichlid Woman]

The kribs leave both the cories and the ottos alone, unless they get too close during breeding time. But even then, the krib just chases the cory away briefly, no damage done. All three species do great together, at least in my tank. It's a nice combination.

Sting, you're right, cories don't eat algae--I meant that they'd be good for cleaning up any left-over nutrients (flakes, etc.) in the gravel, which would help with the algae problem (sometimes caused by an excess of nutrients). The otos eat algae.

BHRay, the slightly elevated nitrate reading could be a tad (not much!) of overfeeding, which cories would take care of. And adding extra plants will suck up the same nutrients algae need. They'd also provide some hiding places, etc., which in a 10-gallon with breeding kribs would probably be nice for the other fish. Sounds like a plan ...

-- Pat

 

[BHRay]

A plan, I like the way that sounds! I have read that cories and (maybe read) otos do better in groups. I believe that the suggestions that I read was min. of 3 for the cories. Have you found this to be true? Are there cories that stay small? Should I use individuals in the 10g? And I never have a problem using more plants. I love planted tanks.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

All cories stay small (under 2"), but a 10-gal is a pretty small tank. With a pair of kribs, you should be okay with adding three cories (any variety) and three or four otos.

-- Pat

 

[BHRay]

I just brought home a half dozen small otos. I'm acclimating them now and then into a q-tank. I've heard that otos can be hard to keep and the water that they came from had a ph of 7.6. Mine is 8.2. I'll wait a few days and see if they all make it. ANything wrong with putting 6 in the 10g temporarily to get a jump on the algae? Then I was going to move 3 of them to my 29 which has a diatom problem.