Fish that eats algae

richbrad08

AC Members
Dec 10, 2009
36
0
0
35
I was wondering what is a good fish that will eat algae because my 36 bow front tank is getting covered in it and the hole sponge thing at working to well. i have live plants in it so chemical is out of the question. same things with my 55 gallon ciclid tank. what would be the best fish you recommend.
 
A pair of Florida Flag fish would be an interesting addition to the cichlid tank. They behave much like cichlids and can be good algae eaters. SAEs are also a logical choice, but there is no guarantee that any fish will solve the problem. You have some sort of nutrient imbalance going on. What kind of algae is this? What is your lighting and fert regime?
 
Cut your lights out and dose with flourish excel from seachem. I had horrible hair/beard algae as well as green algae on the glass and it all went away with the help of excel, which is bacially co2.

Check your water parameters, there is most likely nitrates hangning out in your tank.

I've not kept cichlids, so I don't know what is compatible with them. If your algae is on the glass, get snails...lots of snails. Ramshorns are decent for algae, nerites are incredible for algae. Fix your water, get some snails and clean the glass and you should be set.
 
A ruby shark, rts, SAE, or flying fix could be a good choice.

Theyre all fairly aggressive and can hold their own against more aggressive fish.
 
Coupla nice BN plecos would work, maybe ABNs. They don't get too big and do a great job with algae. Good luck.
 
What kind of algae? For a cichlid tank (NOT African cichlids) a pair of BN plecos or a flying fox would be good for diatom and mat algae. For a 35 gallon peaceful tank a BN pleco would be good from diatom and mat algae, and an SAE would be good for thread algae.
 
A glass sponge from the LFS (there is a big difference between the sponges made for glass and those made for acrylic), reduced lighting and snails are all options that I would pursue. Are your tanks near sunlight? This can cause algae issues as well. Even indirect sunlight can cause algae problems. I have not tried nerite snails (though I intend to), but ramshorns and MTS are doing a great job for me. I have Otos as well, but those would not work in a cichlid setup. They would be lunch.
 
i have tried snails but i guess i need alot of them. my 55 gallon has more algae then my 36. I guess thats because my heater is on in my 55. i am thinking i am going to get sewellia lineolata hillstream loaches. i saw in an other post and look really cool.
 
AquariaCentral.com