Minifish Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Hi , Looking for suggestions of a cold water algae eater (fish, shrimp or snail) . Need to be happy in temperate water , be okay with little fish and not eat fry or eggs . Think I maybe looking for the impossible . No matter how much I clean my the patio ponds they grow algae they are in a sun room . Would be open to something that would only occasionally eat eggs as could move into another pond whilst spawning occurs . thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 8:17 PM, Minifish said: Hi , Looking for suggestions of a cold water algae eater (fish, shrimp or snail) . Need to be happy in temperate water , be okay with little fish and not eat fry or eggs . Think I maybe looking for the impossible . No matter how much I clean my the patio ponds they grow algae they are in a sun room . Would be open to something that would only occasionally eat eggs as could move into another pond whilst spawning occurs . thanks What temp "cold" here refers to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minifish Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 6:24 PM, Lennie said: What temp "cold" here refers to? Lowest temperature is 50°F - normally maintains around 60F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOtrees Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 A herd of cherry shrimp. Have I heard of cherry shrimp? Sure I have. No a cherry shrimp herd. Cherry shrimp heard what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 9:08 PM, TOtrees said: A herd of cherry shrimp. Have I heard of cherry shrimp? Sure I have. No a cherry shrimp herd. Cherry shrimp heard what? Cherry shrimp algae eating potential is,,, very low tho imo. I've kept 4 neocaridina colors until today mainly as cleanup crew and as a part of tank ecosystem, but I feel like they are not good at algae eating by any means. Cleaning up extra food? sure. Also I'm not sure if they would even breed in those temps, if they even survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOtrees Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 @Lennie I think cherry shrimp are under-appreciated as algae eaters. They may not be as awesome as amanos, but when you standardize for mass of population as opposed to number of individuals, they make up a lot of the difference. https://tropica.com/en/guide/algae-control/test-of-algae-eaters/ Also consider the high cost of amanos, and the fact that most folks can breed cherry shrimp themselves, means if you need or want an army (or herd) of algae eaters, it costs a lot less to breed them as cherries than buy them as amanos (if you have the time). Cherry shrimp may not breed in cold water, but they survive down to freezing just fine. So 50s and 60s is no problem at all, as long as the swings aren't too rapid. @Minifish another suggestion is bristlenose plecos, depending on how cold you want to go. I've kept them outside (in summer) and they don't appear to suffer from a few chilly nights. In my basement their growout tank is high 60s and they love it. If your pond is very small, maybe try to find a baby bn, like 1" or so. Another option is something like duckweed or hornwort, to outcompete the algae. You'd need to remove it on a regular basis to avoid overcrowding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 10:17 AM, Minifish said: Looking for suggestions of a cold water algae eater (fish, shrimp or snail) . Need to be happy in temperate water , What temperature? My rubberlip plecos and otos did great and do well in the upper 60-low 70s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 11:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said: What temperature? On 5/31/2023 at 8:54 PM, Minifish said: Lowest temperature is 50°F - normally maintains around 60F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Yeah. Even shrimp don't want to be that cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 One of the best algae eaters I've found is the reticulated SAE (Crossocheilus reticulatus). Although they get fairly large and are more of a flowing water fish, I've had no problem keeping them in the low sixties in temperature. Depending on size of your ponds it could be something to look into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 @Minifish one thing I know a lot of folks use for algae control in ponds in my area is barley straw. Here is an article with some information and a sample photo of the product. https://extension.psu.edu/barley-straw-for-algae-control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) Are you sure the water temperature is that low? Water and ambient air temperature are two completely different beasts. For reference the average water temperature here in the Puget Sound is 53 degrees F. And in the Summer surface temperature can reach 63 degrees. Youd be surprised how warm water is with no heater. My tank sits comfortably at 68-71 degrees even though ambient air is usually at 60-65. Also just for reference we had record heat here this May. 93 degrees outside. House was in the low 80’s ambient and the tank water was measuring at 75. Edited June 1, 2023 by Biotope Biologist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 6:54 PM, Minifish said: Lowest temperature is 50°F - normally maintains around 60F Ramshorn snails would be the a good choice for cold water tank most commonly kept algae eaters such as bristlenose and Otto's wouldn't do well in that temperature range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumplkrum Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 Plants would be your best algae control. Floating plants and Lillys I'm thinking. Not sure Dwarf Aquarium Lillys can go that low, but common Lilly pads come in several sizes. A lot of choices for floating plants. If the light coming into the room is too intense, screening would also be an option. Either over the tubs, or the windows themselves. If they had blinds, you could leave them open when it's cold so the sun can warm things up. If it's warm and too intense, close the blinds and cut down on the algae blooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 12:20 PM, Lennie said: Cherry shrimp algae eating potential is,,, very low tho imo. I've kept 4 neocaridina colors until today mainly as cleanup crew and as a part of tank ecosystem, but I feel like they are not good at algae eating by any means. Cleaning up extra food? sure. Also I'm not sure if they would even breed in those temps, if they even survive. They will survive, and live longer. So will hillstream loaches, but they need good aeration or strong water flow (which aerated water), but they do stay smaller and didn't bother my eggs or fry. I need to look up the name, maybe @Fish Folk will know, but there's a small bottom cleaner/herbivore fish that's native to north America, and lives in cooler waters (50s and 60s, can do okay in low 70s, upper 70s are too warm). Sorry my brain is drawing a blank on the name. My dwarf hyacinth does well in those temps, is easy to limit so it doesn't take over the surface, and would reduce the algae growth. My endlers also grow well in those temps, and will keep algae mostly controlled (limit to where it already is) but won't do much about established growth. Scuds will eat algae, but they also eat eggs, so.... I believe there's an "Australian amano" that eats almost as much algae as Caridina japonica/multidentata, but I don't remember how low they can handle: upper 50s might be exceeding their threshold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 @Minifish my daughter used duckweed to keep nutrients down, in addition to endlers eating algae, in their horse troughs on the farm. They are outside, temp changes of up to 10° each day in the top 10" of water, and there was ice on the trough this winter. Endlers staid warm in the pump area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDZ Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Trapdoor Snails are "made" for outdoor ponds. Bonus they don't reproduce fast only every 9 months or so. They also have live young so messy eggs everywhere. My favorite snail in my patio pond and inside tanks too.💜🦐🐌🐟 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 (edited) On 7/25/2023 at 12:23 AM, LDZ said: Trapdoor Snails are "made" for outdoor ponds. Bonus they don't reproduce fast only every 9 months or so. They also have live young so messy eggs everywhere. My favorite snail in my patio pond and inside tanks too.💜🦐🐌🐟 I dont think that 9 month period is valid. My japanese trapdoors breed good enough, I got around at least 10 babies from different females in 2 months at different times. Ive once seen a female giving birth to two in a row too. I feel like they give a birth ~ approximately once a week So at least for my japanese trapdoor snails, I can easily tell there is no 9 month period to give birth to live babies. but that can be considered slow for sure compared to pest snails, and they are also very cute. And tank bred babies with perfect shell growth looks great I can approve they don’t like hot temps but I’m not sure if they can go such low temps, even if then, I assume they would be likely going dormant and mostly inactive Edited July 25, 2023 by Lennie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 My SAE's are egg eaters Garra rufa is a good algae eater that doesn't hunt eggs and pretty easy to keep. Bladder snails feel like an easy option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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