a chinese alage eater has worked for me, so did a common pleco but i wouldn't have both of these in the same tank.
good alge eater for a 10g
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Lupin
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- Sep 21, 2006
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Neither will fit in the 10g.
Depending on the algae you have, Jordanella floridae works but these are not community fish and should be kept on their own. Four is the maximum you can fit in there. I realize you may be asking for bottom feeders but these ones work well with hair algae.
The only creatures I'd put in there besides the one above are otos and snails.
really depends on what else you have in there. keep in mind that algae lives off of waste products, so adding more waste, even in the form of an animal that eats algae, is just contributing to a constant cycle. better to reduce or eliminate the cause rather than deny the problem. too few water changes? overfeeding? too much light? improper plant fertilizing?
echoofformless
Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
I must completely disagree with all previous assertions that a 10g is too small for otos, and that they need numbers to be happy.
My longest lived oto (going now on three years) lives in a 10g tank and has been the only one in there since the other two died about a month into owning them. He lives with an SAE, a male betta and a cherry barb. All of these fish have been in the tank for as long as he has, except for the betta who got introduced a few weeks ago.
So there goes all of that theory. Otos obviously do fine by themselves (in fact in my experience I could say that they do a lot better since I have never had one live so long.) They do fine in 10g tanks. So do SAEs, who also do great by themselves and this one shows no signs of unhappiness or stress at all.
Yeah, go ahead and flame me or argue with me if you like. Sorry if I come off as smug but I have the actual experience here - I'm not just repeating the common collective canon.
I'm not saying buy just one oto though - still buy three or four. They are very small and prefer to sit around than to swim so no worries about a large tank.
And finally - I see nothing wrong with having some animals to assist in algae control. These are all cute, friendly, inexpensive and easy to keep animals which would make perfectly good specimens even in the absence of an algae problem. So why deny yourself such a fish just on some bs "principle" of not buying animals just for algae control?
Flame on.
My longest lived oto (going now on three years) lives in a 10g tank and has been the only one in there since the other two died about a month into owning them. He lives with an SAE, a male betta and a cherry barb. All of these fish have been in the tank for as long as he has, except for the betta who got introduced a few weeks ago.
So there goes all of that theory. Otos obviously do fine by themselves (in fact in my experience I could say that they do a lot better since I have never had one live so long.) They do fine in 10g tanks. So do SAEs, who also do great by themselves and this one shows no signs of unhappiness or stress at all.
Yeah, go ahead and flame me or argue with me if you like. Sorry if I come off as smug but I have the actual experience here - I'm not just repeating the common collective canon.
I'm not saying buy just one oto though - still buy three or four. They are very small and prefer to sit around than to swim so no worries about a large tank.
And finally - I see nothing wrong with having some animals to assist in algae control. These are all cute, friendly, inexpensive and easy to keep animals which would make perfectly good specimens even in the absence of an algae problem. So why deny yourself such a fish just on some bs "principle" of not buying animals just for algae control?
Flame on.
I have had a solo oto for quite awhiel and he is doing fine. I recently added a coupe of more and while they hang out together, the solo bigger oto certainly wants nothing to do with them.
But I don't think that buying an oto for algae control is a good idea simply because they aren't that great at it. Mine eat alage all day, have large plump bellies but I still need to use a scrub pad each week. In fact I think my recently added platies do a better job if I don't feed them for a couple of days.
I don't think that adding a fish or creature just for algae control is a good idea if it isn't a fish that will make you happy long term. Don't forget that an algae eating fish needs algae, so by that definition you will always have to have algae in the tank. Some algae eaters will take to prepared foods, though my otos certainly won't. So then you will have potentially more work in making them special food, probably more work than occasionally cleaning soem algae by hand.
So that's just my thought and some info. Look at snails and otos and see if they might be creatures you would enjoy having in your tank. But make sure you know their needs well, long term, before adding them.
But I don't think that buying an oto for algae control is a good idea simply because they aren't that great at it. Mine eat alage all day, have large plump bellies but I still need to use a scrub pad each week. In fact I think my recently added platies do a better job if I don't feed them for a couple of days.
I don't think that adding a fish or creature just for algae control is a good idea if it isn't a fish that will make you happy long term. Don't forget that an algae eating fish needs algae, so by that definition you will always have to have algae in the tank. Some algae eaters will take to prepared foods, though my otos certainly won't. So then you will have potentially more work in making them special food, probably more work than occasionally cleaning soem algae by hand.
So that's just my thought and some info. Look at snails and otos and see if they might be creatures you would enjoy having in your tank. But make sure you know their needs well, long term, before adding them.
