Are Mollies good at eating algae?

[Lennie]

Hey,

So as the title says, are mollies actually good at eating algae? Especially hair algae?
 

I’m starting to see slight growth of hair algae in one of my tanks. AND I HATE IT FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART :)))) So any slight growth should be destroyed from the beginning before it can slightly grow!! 😄

  I have some rosy barbs in that tank and they do pick at algae from time to time. But I would love to increase the potential hairy type algae eaters in that tank. The tank meets molly parameters, 24C, 7gh, 13 kh, 7.5 ph. 33g/125 liters.

I have 3 SAEs in my big tank and cannot get any juveniles and remove one again in the future to move them again, it would crowd too much. They have their own established dominance right now so I don’t wanna remove them from the big tank to be introduced back again later on. They grow pretty fast anyway, I’d rather have something works in long term.
 

Also any other potential hair algae type eaters suggestions are welcomed.

just a note: we don’t have amanos in my country since pandemic, and shrimps cannot make it in that tank no matter how densely planted it is. So shrimp are out of the plan. 
 

Edit: we also don’t have flagfish. I forgot to mention that one.

Thanks everyone for the help,

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Lennie

[Scapexghost]

Mollies will eat hair algae. Another good one is flag fish

[Lennie]

On 4/21/2023 at 7:37 PM, Scapexghost said:

Mollies will eat hair algae. Another good one is flag fish

Good reminder. Forgot to mention we dont have flagfish as well. Adding it! 

[Lennie]

On 4/21/2023 at 7:59 PM, Pepere said:

I share your dislike of hair algae.

I bought flag fish to eat it.  They were not keeping up…

Are you fertilizing the tank. Ate you adding iron?  My first meaningful reduction of hair grass came from reducing iron dosing to once a week.  I now dose more that I have pressure CO2 and have significantly increased light intensity and decreased photo period to 9 hours.  I also do a 50-60% water change weekly.  And I will spray down any leaves above waterline with hydrogen peroxide if they have any signs of algae, when tank is drained down before refilling. I also cut off leaves that get more heavily covered. Easier to cut it off and stimulate new growth then have the plant expending energy trying to heal, repair the leaf…

 

I now feed once a day in the evening to keep the flag fish interested in Algae eating..

 

I know Flag Fish are not an option for you, but I wrote all above to indicate they are not the be all end all of hair grass eradication…. George Farmer repeatedly says it is much easier to prevent Algae then to treat it…

Hey there,

The tank gets 7 hours of light with a hightech LED. I fertilize the tank half amount recommended by Tropica Premium Nutrition. Again half dose of seachem potassium, and equilibrium during water changes. I always dose low in my tanks as I always use aquasoil on bottom and mainly keep root feeders. No plants ever show deficiencies, so I try to avoid dosing nitrate to water column. Just potassium and trace elements really. The tank is heavily planted, lots of floating plants, staying around 5-10 nitrate in general.

My tap has 20 nitrate, so water change actually adds some nitrate to my tanks, which are usually consumed by plants easily, so I don't mind.

I do water changes once a week, with gravel vac the sand parts and not touching aquasoil parts, around %30-40 water change.

 

So I believe I just need some assistance of more algae eaters, because hair algae is the only problem I ever face really, I had a very bad one in my old 29g, causing almost death to 4 fish/inverts of mine back then and I was very pissed of. Thankfully none in any other 4 tanks, but today, after months, I've seen slight growth on the top of rotala. So yea, any potential hair algae eating fish in addition to rosy barbs can be nice!

If you have any recommendations regarding the abovementioned schedule of mine, please feel free to share you opinion. I can't really afford CO2 sadly, very expensive to setup and sustain in my country. And I feel like DIY ones look both unpleasing and seems very inconsistent. I'd rather have a stability or nothing.

[Lennie]

On 4/21/2023 at 8:20 PM, Pepere said:

is your tap water iron rich?

Good question. My water goes through water softener, so gh reads 0. Is iron efficiently removed through water softener system as well? Never thought of it.

A lil bit of googling:

"Water softeners can and do remove small amounts of iron. Yet, a standard softener is not specifically designed to treat high levels of iron in your water. For example, the water softener systems Water-Right manufacturers remove iron in concentrations up to 1 ppm, or 1 mg/L."

"Water softeners are designed to soften your water, not remove iron. So even though a small amount of iron can be removed by a water softener, you should not count on that as your sole source of iron removal. "

So seems like it removes some, but not all, if there is any. Hard to know without a test kit I bet.

[Huckleberry]

Some water softeners are also iron filters such as a marlo cmp 25. 

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:34 PM, Lennie said:

Hey,

So as the title says, are mollies actually good at eating algae? Especially hair algae?
 

I’m starting to see slight growth of hair algae in one of my tanks. AND I HATE IT FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART :)))) So any slight growth should be destroyed from the beginning before it can slightly grow!! 😄

  I have some rosy barbs in that tank and they do pick at algae from time to time. But I would love to increase the potential hairy type algae eaters in that tank. The tank meets molly parameters, 24C, 7gh, 13 kh, 7.5 ph. 33g/125 liters.

I have 3 SAEs in my big tank and cannot get any juveniles and remove one again in the future to move them again, it would crowd too much. They have their own established dominance right now so I don’t wanna remove them from the big tank to be introduced back again later on. They grow pretty fast anyway, I’d rather have something works in long term.
 

Also any other potential hair algae type eaters suggestions are welcomed.

just a note: we don’t have amanos in my country since pandemic, and shrimps cannot make it in that tank no matter how densely planted it is. So shrimp are out of the plan. 
 

Edit: we also don’t have flagfish. I forgot to mention that one.

Thanks everyone for the help,

 

I've got 2 mollies in my 30 gal, I had them in my 75 gal B-4 I had 
to move them to the 30 & the bba I had they cleaned it off my 
java ferns, & since they've been in the 30 gal there's no algae.

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:59 PM, Pepere said:

I share your dislike of hair algae.

I bought flag fish to eat it.  They were not keeping up…

Are you fertilizing the tank. Ate you adding iron?  My first meaningful reduction of hair grass came from reducing iron dosing to once a week.  I now dose more that I have pressure CO2 and have significantly increased light intensity and decreased photo period to 9 hours.  I also do a 50-60% water change weekly.  And I will spray down any leaves above waterline with hydrogen peroxide if they have any signs of algae, when tank is drained down before refilling. I also cut off leaves that get more heavily covered. Easier to cut it off and stimulate new growth then have the plant expending energy trying to heal, repair the leaf…

 

I now feed once a day in the evening to keep the flag fish interested in Algae eating..

 

I know Flag Fish are not an option for you, but I wrote all above to indicate they are not the be all end all of hair grass eradication…. George Farmer repeatedly says it is much easier to prevent Algae then to treat it…

From what you said you are doing on the algae you keep on top of 
sounds like the best there is, cause that's the same thing I do as well.

I have found that you do all the algae cleaning OUT of the water it 
helps to keep it from spreading in the tank, so just keep up what
you're doing till you get what you want & you will get there.

I watch l r b & how he does his tanks & some other fish keepers &
from what I hear about algae it's a love /hate thing with fish tanks.

[Lennie]

On 4/22/2023 at 7:30 AM, Flying fox 6523 said:

I've got 2 mollies in my 30 gal, I had them in my 75 gal B-4 I had 
to move them to the 30 & the bba I had they cleaned it off my 
java ferns, & since they've been in the 30 gal there's no algae.

That’s nice to hear! I should consider give them a chance. They are cute anyway 🙂 

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:05 AM, Lennie said:

That’s nice to hear! I should consider give them a chance. They are cute anyway 🙂 

I just got them off the cuff being I some store credit & I
just happen to get both females so not worried about fry.

[Lennie]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:10 PM, Flying fox 6523 said:

I just got them off the cuff being I some store credit & I
just happen to get both females so not worried about fry.

Some babies can be fun, dunno how many would survive in a community tank but still.

I was normally terrified of fry as they give me anxiety. I currently have fry of some fish and I don’t know which fish at all! Probably someone laid in any of my tanks some eggs to floating plant roots, and they hatched in the snail quarantine I made while medicating my all tanks!
 

Growing them up in a seperate tank made me realised I actually missed how cute the fry are 

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:48 AM, Lennie said:

Some babies can be fun, don't know how many would survive in a community tank but still.

I was normally terrified of fry as they give me anxiety. I currently have fry of some fish and I don’t know which fish at all! Probably someone laid in any of my tanks some eggs to floating plant roots, and they hatched in the snail quarantine I made while medicating my all tanks!
 

Growing them up in a separate tank made me realized I actually missed how cute the fry are 

When I had the guppies that was my 1st at having fry & was 
doing everything I could to save them all & the more I saved 
the more they had so I finally gave up on it & got out of it.

[Lennie]

On 4/22/2023 at 8:22 PM, Flying fox 6523 said:

When I had the guppies that was my 1st at having fry & was 
doing everything I could to save them all & the more I saved 
the more they had so I finally gave up on it & got out of it.

Sounds like guppies 😄 

I can't keep guppies there as there are rosy barbs already. They are super peaceful but I can't risk them nipping guppy tails. Also not sure if they would eat hair algae just as good as mollies anyway.

But I def see livebearer situation being overwhelming with so many babies. I have good relations with my LFS, so I may contact them if I have issues I bet. Can be nice to have mollies bred in local waters and without much salt content I bet.

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/22/2023 at 1:25 PM, Lennie said:

Sounds like guppies 😄 

I can't keep guppies there as there are rosy barbs already. They are super peaceful but I can't risk them nipping guppy tails. Also not sure if they would eat hair algae just as good as mollies anyway.

But I def see livebearer situation being overwhelming with so many babies. I have good relations with my LFS, so I may contact them if I have issues I bet. Can be nice to have mollies bred in local waters and without much salt content I bet.

The only thing is I don't have the space for different tanks so I don't need 
any extra fish popping up on me till I can get a bigger tank like another 75
to replace the 30 gal which is very over stocked right at the moment.

[PineSong]

I have had tons of hair algae in my tanks under two conditions: one tank sits directly in a window and gets lots of sunlight and the Finnex Stingray light on at night; the other tank had the Finnex Stingray light on for 8+ hours per day. 

Following advice from others here on the forum, I covered the blue light dots on my Stingrays with duct tape and I changed my light schedule to 5 hours on, 5 hours off, 5 hours on so the lights are on when I am home to view my fish before and after work but off for a break in the middle of the day. There is a thread explaining how this helps:

After making those changes, I have no hair algae in the tank that only gets light from the Finnex on the split schedule. I have lots of hair algae in the other tank when it gets tons of sun and "some" hair algae when I restrict the sunlight and rely on the Finnex. Keep in mind, the blue dots are still covered.

Additionally, I myself believe mollies are worth their weight in gold for algae duty and would like to have them in all my tanks. At this time I only have one male in the split-schedule tank and that tank has what I consider to be attractive levels of algae--green haze on some rocks, some green specks on the glass so I 'have' to scrape it about once every 6 months. But none of that algae is hair. 

[Lennie]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:50 PM, PineSong said:

I have had tons of hair algae in my tanks under two conditions: one tank sits directly in a window and gets lots of sunlight and the Finnex Stingray light on at night; the other tank had the Finnex Stingray light on for 8+ hours per day. 

Following advice from others here on the forum, I covered the blue light dots on my Stingrays with duct tape and I changed my light schedule to 5 hours on, 5 hours off, 5 hours on so the lights are on when I am home to view my fish before and after work but off for a break in the middle of the day. There is a thread explaining how this helps:

After making those changes, I have no hair algae in the tank that only gets light from the Finnex on the split schedule. I have lots of hair algae in the other tank when it gets tons of sun and "some" hair algae when I restrict the sunlight and rely on the Finnex. Keep in mind, the blue dots are still covered.

Additionally, I myself believe mollies are worth their weight in gold for algae duty and would like to have them in all my tanks. At this time I only have one male in the split-schedule tank and that tank has what I consider to be attractive levels of algae--green haze on some rocks, some green specks on the glass so I 'have' to scrape it about once every 6 months. But none of that algae is hair. 

Hello. Thanks for sharing the thread. 

I tried siesta method for my 29g last year, and had no positive results, or better to say, no difference in my experience. So Instead, in the new tanks I start with 6 hours of lighting. And gradually, when I observe good growth, I increase it to 7 and keep it there forever. The appearance of algae was really small, barely noticable, only on top of two rotala branches. I believe rosy barbs do a good job but I feed the tank well as it is a community, so it makes sense to keep multiple hair algae eaters just as a preventative method I believe 

My light has no direct blues. Only pink, red and whites, full spectrum. I avoid using blue myself.

[Flying fox 6523]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:16 PM, Pepere said:

Well, so long as neither one is already pregnant or storing sperm…

The only way to be certain of not having fry from Guppies, Mollies and or Platies is to keep none at all, or only males…

Well after 3 mons & no fry I would pretty much say 
their not holding any fry that I've seen so far.

[Lennie]

Update: 

I visited my LFS today. They had cute mollies, but there was one dead in their tank and two were not looking very well. Others were all looking healthy and active but I couldn't be sure. I asked, and they told me they keep them in pure freshwater. Maybe they were bred in saltwater and moved directly to freshwater so it affected them negatively.

Also, they already had lots of babies in the store. Kinda scary. There were around 40 babies with no cover. Adults did not seem to care at all.

[PineSong]

Wise to be cautious I think. I have not had great luck with store bought mollies even though I QT for 4 weeks and deworm. I hope to get my next ones from a hobbyist.

[Stef]

Mollies are great nibblers of algae. Just as I donate some, more appear. If in Chicago area, you’re welcome to as many gold dust lyretails. 

[Lennie]

On 4/26/2023 at 1:40 AM, Stef said:

Mollies are great nibblers of algae. Just as I donate some, more appear. If in Chicago area, you’re welcome to as many gold dust lyretails. 

Would love to! But I live in Turkey 😄