Algae Eater Care Questions

[evonner]

I am looking to add some algae friends to my tanks. I'm looking for peaceful and small types. I found some dwarf otos but I have questions.

Substrate: I continuously read about how sharp substrate can hurt them. One tank has gravel and another has eco-complete. Will these substrates hurt them? This is my main concern.

Secondly, my water parameters. Cory's can adapt but don't eat algae from what I have read. I'm going to use my highest norms from established tanks. pH up to 8.2, Nitrate 20, dGH up to 14, dKH up to 8-9. Temp, I wont go lower than 72 degrees.

What options do I have and is the substrate ok?

[Ninjoma]

You'll want to double check water parameters, since my water is closer to 7.5ph & 7dGH, but I've had success with the following small peaceful animals on similar substrates:

For Algae:
-Reticulated hillstream loach 
-Nerite snails/mystery snails/ramshorn snails/rabbit snails/devil spike snails 
-Bristelnose pleco
-Amano shrimp
-I keep my otos with a sand substrate, but they mostly graze off glass and plants, so I think they would be okay with those substrates.
-I haven't kept American flagfish, but they are another species you could consider.

For other animals that don't necessarily eat algae, but will help scavenge your substrate:
-Corys
-CPO crayfish
 

 

[Lennie]

Generally clean up crews work better when a couple from each are combined all together, because they can be perfect at eating one meanwhile not touching another at all.

Snails are great clean up crew and your water/ph seems pretty good for them. So if you like snails, they can be a good addition. Nerites are amazing algae eaters, while mysteries can eat a lil bit of algae, they are pretty good clean up crew for leftover food and decaying plant matter too.

Maybe you can consider amano shrimp too, in addition to snails. Or neocaridina shrimp, based on the current tankmates.

You can also consider borneo suckers or hillstream loaches, they are pretty good as well. 

What is your tank size and how long has it been running for? It plays an important role on choices as well. Because shrimp, borneo/hillstream loach, ottos, nerite snails are mostly depending on the biofilm and algae growing in the tank, so they won’t be mainly (or maybe at all)consuming commercial food like fish. Tank naturally needs to feed them as this is what their main diet is

As far as I know, @Irene has been keeping her cories on eco complete too. I would personally not keep them on gravel tho. They love sifting a lot. I sometimes see ming digging their whole faces into the substrate😄 

Cories don’t eat algae but they are good at cleaning leftover food which could foul the water over time, and they disturb substrate a lot which prevents having dead spots in the tank from my experience.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Lennie

[evonner]

Ok, I will check into these species requirements that you guys have suggested. I know I cant have shrimp because my water is too hard for them. I have several tanks and sizes. My 29 gallon is a new build but I'm cycled to be able to add livestock. That tank has a bottom layer of stratum and then eco-complete on top. I did read that some algae eaters dig and that could be bad as I have stratum and if they disturb it, it will leach ammonia into the water. I have guppies or I should say I had guppies. I killed them all a couple of days ago by accident. I put the post in the forum and we are trying to figure out what went wrong as I'm not a newbie but I made a fatal mistake.

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/18/2023 at 9:12 PM, evonner said:

Substrate: I continuously read about how sharp substrate can hurt them. One tank has gravel and another has eco-complete. Will these substrates hurt them? This is my main concern.

Eco complete is lava rock. It can be sharp. Otos generally won't lay on substrate at all. They tend to lay on plants, glass, and decor.

 

On 2/18/2023 at 9:12 PM, evonner said:

Secondly, my water parameters. Cory's can adapt but don't eat algae from what I have read. I'm going to use my highest norms from established tanks. pH up to 8.2, Nitrate 20, dGH up to 14, dKH up to 8-9. Temp, I wont go lower than 72 degrees.

PH is going to be way too high for corydoras. I wouldn't go into the upper 7s and would try to keep it 7.2 or lower. Most sites list the limit as 7.4.

[Theplatymaster]

@evonnerwhat is the tank size?

for 20+gallons i really like Panda Garra,

[Lennie]

On 2/19/2023 at 2:02 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

PH is going to be way too high for corydoras. I wouldn't go into the upper 7s and would try to keep it 7.2 or lower. Most sites list the limit as 7.4.

I keep my pygmys and sterbais at 8.2, and they breed. They bred 3rd time yesterday in 1.5 months. I'm not sure 7.4 is valid for tank-bred local fish tbh.

[Colu]

With the higher KH and GH I think nerite snails or Ramshorn snails would be a good choice over Otto's 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/19/2023 at 3:14 AM, Lennie said:

I keep my pygmys and sterbais at 8.2, and they breed. They bred 3rd time yesterday in 1.5 months. I'm not sure 7.4 is valid for tank-bred local fish tbh.

Mine has some issues when PH got too high. 😞

[Lennie]

On 2/19/2023 at 2:17 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Mine has some issues when PH got too high. 😞

😞

Might be better safe than sorry then! Me not facing any issues does not prove a general point ofc

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/19/2023 at 3:22 AM, Lennie said:

Might be better safe than sorry then! Me not facing any issues does not prove a general point ofc

Same for me, example of 1. I understand your point. I tend to err on the 7.0 PH for them and just like the amanos ran into issues when PH jumped on me. Kind of similar to running them hot. They were stressed and acting irregular. (Pandas)

Enough to make me test and adjust things.

Most of the time my tanks are in the 6.8-7.2 range. Usually trying to be sub 7 just because of the way my water is.

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

On 2/18/2023 at 11:12 PM, evonner said:

I am looking to add some algae friends to my tanks. I'm looking for peaceful and small types. I found some dwarf otos but I have questions.

Substrate: I continuously read about how sharp substrate can hurt them. One tank has gravel and another has eco-complete. Will these substrates hurt them? This is my main concern.

Secondly, my water parameters. Cory's can adapt but don't eat algae from what I have read. I'm going to use my highest norms from established tanks. pH up to 8.2, Nitrate 20, dGH up to 14, dKH up to 8-9. Temp, I wont go lower than 72 degrees.

What options do I have and is the substrate ok?

Your water sounds similar to mine for pH (southern Wisconsin).  Mine runs at 8.4 if I do nothing, so I use about 5 mL of pH down for each 50% water change on my 29 gallon to get the pH down to about 8.0.  I've kept Otos at these parameters and they have been happy for the past 2 months.  As of cories, I've had them for 30+ years as I have always liked them.  I've never really had any issues with having them...other than if I try to get panda cories from Petco...those never seem to make it...not really sure that one is all my aquarium though....