Help me pick a clean-up/bottom-feeder crew!

[TonyW]

Hi all!

Getting ready to stock my 55g! YAY!

While I haven't finalized my fish selection yet, it WILL be a community tank. I'm planning on a couple schools of tetras, a gourami or two, perhaps some rasboras... that kind of thing.

So.. for the bottom.

I want to do 4-6 corys, maybe some kuhli loaches, but what else can I do? Should I have a couple of otos for algae cleaning? What about shrimp? (I've never done shrimp... I know nothing about 'em.)

Thoughts?

 

[AnDr3w]

No shrimp. Get some fancy plecos. Get a royal maybe. They grow quick upto around 5", the slllllooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Corys and otos are good. I can name a few more plecos if you want...

 

[jm1212]

a royal will get to big. they can easily reach a foot long and are a heavy bioload on the system.

corydoras will be a good addition, and stay smaller than kuhlis

 

[mazeman22]

Do a school of cories and a bristlenose pleco or a rubberlip pleco. These plecos stay generally in the 5 inch range and are super good cleaners!!!


Goodluck,
Mazeman

 

[Nolapete]

What maze said, but I'd stick with the ancistrus if you have plants. And Otos are simply the coolest little cleaner ever!

 

[wataugachicken]

yeah, the royals are pretty and grow slowly, but are pricey and eat wood - which means that without good maintenance, your substrate will get full of sawdust and wood poop. bristlenoses are fun to have, and so are otos. just keep in mind that any fish you add as a clean-up crew contributes to the bioload and means that you have to do extra work somewhere along the line. plecos can be good for algae control, but they need additional food like wafers, pellets, and fresh veggies. this means they poop a lot. don't depend on them to just eat algae, leftover food, and/or the wastes of other fish. also, they won't eat all types of algae. the simple green stuff is tasty, but black algae and some other kinds will be ignored.

 

[donthitmyhead]

As usual, my vote goes to SAE and amano shrimps. Ever since I added them to my 55gal algae doesn't stand a chance on plants and driftwood. Also add some otos to help clean the glass.

 

[Tophat665]

Get an SAE and 5 Botia striata to keep the snail population in check. Skip the kuhlis; you'll only see them regularly after lights out. Botia striata are much more active and out and about.