Hair algae eating fish?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

whats a good hair algae eater that would be able to hold its own with my julidochromis marlieri and neolamprologus caudopunctatus in a 65 gallon tank with high ph and hard water?

[TheSwissAquarist]

Siamese Algae Eaters would be a good option, or Florida Flag fish if you can get them. 

[TOtrees]

I have a similar setup to yours... a large colony of multis. Mine don't have julies with them though. Yours are with caudopunctatus? 

Couple things I see in your pics...

1) there's not enough plants to fix the algae problem (and IMO it's going to be difficult to get there in a tanganyikan setup).

2) there's a decent amount of algae on the tops of the shells right down at the bottom of the tank, which suggests you're giving too much light. 

I was having a black beard and hair algae issue in my shellie tank, and I reduced it a lot (not the same as fixing it, by the way) by adding a nerite snail, a mid-sized bristlenose, and a siamese algae eater. The SAE wasn't a good match species wise, but my setup has some tall coffefolia anubias leaves it was able to perch on and stay clear of the multis.  At feeding time, it was able to get lots to eat, but for the rest of the day, when it should have been grazing top to bottom, it didn't do much because the multis didn't really let it. Once it did its initial purge of the upper leaves (where the hair algae was worst) I noticed it started to become pretty skinny, so it's been relocated. I might bring it back for a month or so if needed. The bristlenose was a better match, I suspect that its nocturnal tendencies help there. 

I also put phosguard in the HOB, but I don't know if it helps. Maybe it is helping, and my problems are less than they'd be without it. 

[tolstoy21]

On 9/25/2023 at 4:04 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Siamese Algae Eaters would be a good option, or Florida Flag fish if you can get them. 

The Ph in a multi tank could be on the high side for a Siamese Algae Eater, but I guess that all depends on how high you're keeping it. Otherwise, SAE's seem to be pretty good at mowing down hair algae, as long as it hasn't gotten overly long (I have found they tend to ignore the really long strands and nibble away on the shorter ones).

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Tanked]

Cut back on the feeding and more fish will at least consider eating the algae.  Angel fish might eat it. Mine seem to enjoy BBA, so hair algae may be on the menu.

[TheSwissAquarist]

Mollies? They’d like the high pH. 

[mynameisnobody]

I have a 75 gallon multie species only. It’s covered in anubias of all sorts. I battled algae for a while until adding duckweed. Literally all algae issues have corrected themselves. Someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure. I’ve learned to use duckweed to my advantage. It also helps dim the light a bit and as a result my Shellie’s are out much more often. 

[Galabar]

I read this as hair algae was eating your fish... 😅

[Huckleberry]

Mollies would definitely pick at it.

[Opie]

I just got my first Florida flag fish. I am amazed at how much he mows down algae. Great looking fish too! 
 

Florida flag fish> SAE

[Guest]

My two cents are you could try shrimp or Otocinclus. My otos did a nice job battling alge but the problem is you need a school of em. I heard that Amano shrimp are good for eating algae as well. Overall my recommendations are Otos and Amano shrimp more than anything but keep In mind that Oto's will probably prefer to stay bottom dwelling and eat food leftovers instead of the actual algae. It's your call and your tank so make what you think will work for you! 

[Eno]

Not a popular one.  Endlers eat up a lot of my algae.

[Eno]

Not a popular one.  Endlers eat up a lot of my algae.