Your favorite small algae eater?
- Thread starter guppymill
- Start date
I have an Otocinclus named John Oto (John Otto, drummer from Limp Bizkit) and I must say he does a mighty fine job now that he has some company around creating a mess for him. All he needed was some extra fish to give him something to do and now he's all over the tank. It's funny watching him try and get around the different items in the tank while fighting the current. One time he was literally sucked halfway up the filter trying to clean it (the guard prevents it, but he just kept motoring away with his tail inside). In my opinion, he does a great job, so +1 for Oto's!!
I recommend nerites. Otos and amanos are risky because it's easy for pet stores to get bad batches that will die fast. I agree that a UGF isn't a good idea though.
Get amanos and Otos. IME they like different kinds of algae. Nothing eats everything. Otos are great at GDA and the brown stuff- what do you call it- common in new tanks, doesn't stick, needs silicates in the water and - DIATOMS- that's it. Amanos love hair algae and cladophora, which the otos won't touch. Neither will eat BBA, but nothing realy does.
As for controlling algae with lighting and ferts etc- I have 11 planted tanks and am a member of a local planted tank club with 40+ active members- it aint that easy. Everybody could use a little help from a clean up crew. They will also help polishing off uneaten fish food. There is no be-all end-all algae cleaner-upper, but if you like having them around and they can give you a hand, what's the harm?
As for controlling algae with lighting and ferts etc- I have 11 planted tanks and am a member of a local planted tank club with 40+ active members- it aint that easy. Everybody could use a little help from a clean up crew. They will also help polishing off uneaten fish food. There is no be-all end-all algae cleaner-upper, but if you like having them around and they can give you a hand, what's the harm?
Well there's no question that otos and amanos are good algae eaters, you just need to make sure you get healthy ones and that you acclimate them well. With that said, I would still pick nerites.
I have a Zebra snail in my betta tank. I just got it this weekend, and it's pretty cool to watch it crawl around. I haven't really seen him "working" yet, but the tank is only a month old and has only one fish in it. Got the snail because that tank is room temperature. I'm definitely considering getting some more. I like the idea of getting a snail or two, then see how much algae actually grows, and then maybe I'll get an oto too.
So what disasters am I tempting if I install the UGF with plants? I'm not relying on it for total filtration, as I've got the box filter in there too. What happens to plant roots in a UGF? Is it bad for the plants or for the effectiveness of the filter or both? Seems that lots of people are alluding to some disaster, but not mentioning specific bad results they've experienced. Thoughts?
Okay, sounds good, just make sure you have enough algae for what you get. There's lots of bad things that could happen, disrupt layers (if you have them), lowers co2, and you have to clean it alot which would displace the plants. Plus, I think UGFs are obsolete.
