Algae Eating Fish

Beard algae

Originally posted by feylind
ive got bristle noses and they do a great job on the glass walls there great and there cute too!

since on this topic does anyone know of a fish that will eat the algae that grows on plants? i have no idea what it is called but its really tough and grows round the edges of the leaf, and its really hard to scrape off with out damaging the leaves.
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This stuff gradually covers the leaves of swords and other slow growing plants. I try to keep things growing fast enough that I can prune away algaefied leaves. It seems the rate it spreads to new leaves depends on the amount of algae in the tank, so trimming leaves it grows on seems to slow it down.

I've read that beard algae favors hard water with a high ph, so my next front in the war will be a de-ionizing purifier so I can bring my hardness from 12gH to 6, and use some peat to pull the ph from 7.7 to 7.0 or less. Gradually of course.

Beard algae seems to do gangbusters if there is an iron deficiency. I think it sucks the iron right out of the plants leaves.
 
I use lots of algae eating fish as many diff kinds as I can find.

Flag fish would like to try them but only seen them once and had spine deformities so I chose not to bother but heard from others that they did a good job.

Barbs in a heathy planted tank there is not enough algae to keep them off your plants period.Good for outbreaks only.

Mollies as babys do ok, older they prefer prepared foods.

Ottos love them! every tank should have them in numbers
at a rate of like 2 per 10g or more.On a side note ottos must be aclimated by the wholesaler/importer in acified RO water or they will die two months later in your tank as with most wild caught cats-plecos once aclimated properly they do good in any water.

Plecos
Commons and variations are to be avoided messy and will trash your tanks in the long run.
Rubber lip/brissle nose there are far to many species and sub-species to say they work good or are messy.
I have a dwarf albino ancisteris breeding pair that are no bigger than my thumb and do wonders and do not harm my plants at all on the other hand I have a brissle nose I got 4 weeks ago thats puttin on a half inch a week now at 5 inches thinking he might bust 6" to big for a planted tank IMHO.

SAE
Eat mostly fish food when older (few months) have fun catching them If you want them out.But great fish in certain tanks.
Some variations of them are OK like the yellow-thai flying fox.

shrimp
All do OK but you need a army of them and they are like candy to lots of our fish.

snails
I keep them in all my tanks ramshorn and common pond snails no MTS but chose not to intentionaly infect my tanks but would not weep if it happened.

others
fry off all kinds eat the stuff I raise guppie and other livebearer fry to about a inch in my planted tanks in large numbers.

As others have said prevention is key and even a tank stock with only algae eating creatures will get over grown if not given the proper maint and attention.
 
Here's one vote for CAE's (Chinese Algae Eaters). Mine seems to be the exception to the rule; he only eats algae, he doesn't harass other fish. He is also two years old so I guess he is mature by now.
 
Just wondering if people are making the distinction between the Chinese Algae eater and the Siamese Algae eater. The CAE's are agressive the SAE's are not. Also the the CAE's are very easy to find and the SAE are very rare.
 
I haven't seen anyone mention farlowellas yet. I bought one a couple weeks ago and so far he's doing a great job eating algae. As soon as I turn the tank light off, he comes out and does his thing. Does anyone have any experience with these guys that they can share? Will he keep eating algae or eventually out grow it like a pleco?

-jen
 
clown plecos that have the gold bands around them destroy certain types of broad leaf plants such as oriental sword plants. they eat the green out and leave it just a skeleton of cellulose
 
i'm curious as to any varieties of algea eater fish that would be appropriate for a coldish water tank ( 55 gallon with fancy goldfish) its not very cold.. but stays at around 73 to 74 degrees for the most part.


i've used mystery snails in my ten and 20 gallons before.. but i'm scared that in a 55 gallon i'd want more than one, which scares me into thinking i might have lots of little snail babies... although i'm wondering if perhaps the goldfish would eat the smaller ones?

i've also used ghost shrimp in all of the tanks, but they never lasted long. a couple of them went kamikaze and ended up in the floor. and i think the rest of them got eaten.

in the 55 gallon tank, there is lots more room for shrimp to hide, but i'm not sure that it would be sufficient. and ghost shrimp are the only variety sold in this area.
 
What are some other names or L#s of Siamese Algae Eaters?
having a hard time finding any hard info on them
 
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