Help on Choosing the Best Algae Eater for My Tank

[Shiba]

Hi all,

I am currently looking into more stocking ideas for my 20g high. I am currently looking into the following animals (I'm not getting all of them if it looks like that lol)

Amano Shrimp

Nerite Snails

Bristlenose pleco

Hillstream loach

otocinclus

I am really struggling as to what to get. I plan on getting one (or three if it's otos) of the last three and maybe 2-3 of the first two. Like, I thought about getting a bristlenose and two nerite snails. Of course, unless the bristlenose is good enough and I don't need the snails.

 If you have experience with any of these animals please let me know how they turned out. I know otos are hard to feed at times, hillstreams prefer cooler water, bristlenose plecos may eventually outgrow the tank. Hillstreams also may get out of the tank or in the filter. Bristlenose seem to be the easiest to care for with my limited knowledge. They also don't cost a fortune like hillstreams do.

Are there any other good algae eaters that also look pretty cool? I want a fish if possible. Not just snails or shrimp. I know, limited choices with the tank, but there are a few.

[KoiAngels]

I could reccomend you a good algae eater if you give me your current stocking of that tank.

[Lennie]

otos and nerites are the only real algae eaters in this list. 

 

Others snack on some algae but that's basically it. Even otos at home tank will require additional feeding.Don't expect too much of an algae eating behavior from any fish or snail really.

Also every fish or snail can eat some sort of algae. What's your issue?

Otos are crazy good for brown diatom but that is just a phase almost all the time for a new tank. That's pretty much it. 

 

Otherwise, as a person who kept and still keeping all of those, I wanna say don't have high expectations and keep the one you like the most.

 

If a bn eats 1X algae, it poops 10x  lol.

Edited August 2 by Lennie

[Shiba]

On 8/2/2024 at 11:02 AM, KoiAngels said:

I could reccomend you a good algae eater if you give me your current stocking of that tank.

The tank is completely new. In fact, it doesn't even have water in it. As far as what I plan to have includes cherry barbs...perhaps another fish but I don't know. Nothing crazy.

On 8/2/2024 at 11:05 AM, Lennie said:

otos and nerites are the only real algae eaters in this list. 

 

Funny because Irene from Girl Talks Fish swears up and down Hillstreams are excellent algae eaters. This isn't true?

On 8/2/2024 at 11:05 AM, Lennie said:

What's your issue?

Nothing. I need something that will keep the algae at bay.

Thank you for your answers.

On 8/2/2024 at 11:05 AM, Lennie said:

Even otos at home tank will require additional feeding

And I'm aware that everything I stated requires some additional food.

[HelplessNewbie]

I find the lowly bladder and pond snail to be very effective at eating green algae (I think I have green spot). They keep my quarantine tank walls fairly clear. I can't tell if they are there in my display tanks. I put some in, but rarely see them.

Amano shrimp in my display tanks are quite hardy. The keep some of my plant leaves and porous rock clear but not the glass. They don't seem to care for black brush algae, only eating it occasionally.

I have otocinclus and they do decent job of clearing the glass but they seem picky about the kind of algae. I perpetually have brown diatoms where the sunlight occasionally streams into the tank sides (and I am okay with it), but I don't see them eating enough of it to make a difference. I went with otos because I generally keep small fish. I didn't bother with quarantine since I watched a Cory video a while back that mentioned how sensitive and hungry these can be.

Suggest you pick decorations, rock, driftwood and substrate that would camouflage the algae. I have a white coral rock that is now green with algae. I am okay with and expected it, but some people may think it unsightly.

Edited August 2 by HelplessNewbie

[Pepere]

As long as I can grow plants without them being infested with algae I am happy to keep my rocks and glass clean myself….

Recently I removed all the rocks from one tank since I pushed the light intensity up higher so my Samolous Parviflora would color up to red instead of reddish green and the rocks started needing scrubbing every 3 days….  And I realized, Wow, I have room for more plants….

I am propagating more stems in order to use the tank as a Dutch lab workspace to build my skills to learn to create a Dutch Scape…

I have not been terribly impressed with the algae eating performance of reputed algae eaters personally.  I had much better response to learning how to grow healthier plants that defend against algae infestation and just clean walls and rocks myself…

 

Edited August 2 by Pepere

[Shiba]

On 8/2/2024 at 12:01 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

I find the lowly bladder and pond snail to be very effective at eating green algae (I think I have green spot). They keep my quarantine tank walls fairly clear. I can't tell if they are there in my display tanks. I put some in, but rarely see them.

Amano shrimp in my display tanks are quite hardy. The keep some of my plant leaves and porous rock clear but not the glass. They don't seem to care for black brush algae, only eating it occasionally.

I have otocinclus and they do decent job of clearing the glass but they seem picky about the kind of algae. I perpetually have brown diatoms where the sunlight occasionally streams into the tank sides (and I am okay with it), but I don't see them eating enough of it to make a difference. I went with otos because I generally keep small fish. I didn't bother with quarantine since I watched a Cory video a while back that mentioned how sensitive and hungry these can be.

Suggest you pick decorations, rock, driftwood and substrate that would camouflage the algae. I have a white coral rock that is now green with algae. I am okay with and expected it, but some people may think it unsightly.

Do you have problems with the shrimp getting out? Thanks.

 

[HelplessNewbie]

On 8/2/2024 at 1:17 PM, Shiba said:

Do you have problems with the shrimp getting out? Thanks.

No, two of 4 tanks with the amanos have large gaps in the lid. They haven't crawled out for me.

[Lennie]

On 8/2/2024 at 8:17 PM, Shiba said:

Do you have problems with the shrimp getting out? Thanks.

 

Amanos do escape if they want. One of mine did escape from my shallow tank. I have 2 other for almost 2 years in my 125 liter tank but they don't escape there. Amanos don't like small sized tanks  I think, but 20H should hand a couple if you wanna keep them, but make sure to play safe and hav a lid.

I haven't seen neocaridinas do it, unless there is a factor that forces them to jump, like aggressive fish chasing them down suddenly. I tried keeping neocaridinas with my apisto erythrura trio and it failed while no issues with other dwarf cichlids 

 

On 8/2/2024 at 7:24 PM, Shiba said:

Funny because Irene from Girl Talks Fish swears up and down Hillstreams are excellent algae eaters. This isn't true?

Hers snack on dead algae leftovers from what I remember. I wouldn't call them a good algae eater by any means.

@beastie kept them. I kept borneo loaches which are pretty similar. She also has panda garras as "algae eater" too.

 

I personally have/had all sort of pest snails, normal (olives and zebras) and horned nerites(black-yellow one), mystery snail, rabbit snail and viviparus viviparus; borneo loaches, SAEs, twig catfish, otos, amanos and cherry shrimp and so many bn plecos.

 

All are great to keep and adds character to a tank. In terms of algae eating, don't expect much from any of them.

SAEs for hairy type of algaes are the best fish ever in my opinion to keep it at bay. And otos are great for brown diatom. I wouldn't call any other an effective algae eater in my experience. And SAEs are too big and active for a 20G, and brown diatom is commonly only an early tank stage phase that goes away most of the time instead of being a chronic problem. 

Edited August 2 by Lennie

[reefhugger]

On 8/2/2024 at 1:46 PM, Lennie said:

Hillstreams are excellent algae eaters.

I’ve had Hillstreams for some years, mostly because I love their funny little selves. They do eat some algae but not enough to matter.   I’ve never had any escape.  They’ve even bred and the babies are amazingly cute.  
 

On 8/2/2024 at 1:14 PM, Pepere said:

had much better response to learning how to grow healthier plants that defend against algae infestation and just clean walls and rocks myself…

@Pepere expresses this bit of wisdom well.  The healthier the plants the less food for algae. I’ve also learned to not stress about some algae…my handy algae scraper is good tool along with a scrub brush. 

[Lennie]

On 8/2/2024 at 9:16 PM, reefhugger said:

On 8/2/2024 at 8:46 PM, Lennie said:

Hillstreams are excellent algae eaters.

I’ve had Hillstreams for some years, mostly because I love their funny little selves. They do eat some algae but not enough to matter.   I’ve never had any escape.  They’ve even bred and the babies are amazingly cute.  
 

Wait I didnt say that 😄 It does not even exist in my message how did you quote me like that im confused. Because I dont think they are excellent algae eaters by any means, not even good at all! 😄 

[reefhugger]

Lol goofy me.  I was trying to reply to the part about Irene mentioning Hillstreams. .   I need to not do this on a tablet where I get lost on the screen!

[johnnyxxl]

On 8/2/2024 at 11:44 AM, Shiba said:

Hi all,

I am currently looking into more stocking ideas for my 20g high. I am currently looking into the following animals (I'm not getting all of them if it looks like that lol)

Amano Shrimp

Nerite Snails

Bristlenose pleco

Hillstream loach

otocinclus

I am really struggling as to what to get. I plan on getting 

I have a large tank so don't take my stock as recommended.  I have cherry barbs, and otocinclus catfish with my Tiger Barbs and kulhi loaches.  My otocinclus hang on the side of the glass keeping it clean with my pond snails.  But algae is not a huge problem with such a heavy planted tank.  I do need to clean the mulm up some and use it in my grow out tank for the plants 

Just checking the thread for how my tank looks.  The video at the bottom of the thread is most recent.

[Shiba]

All very interesting answers.

Very confusing now if I were to be truly transparent lol. I wasn't sure about Hillstreams myself as I knew they preferred cooler water. Wouldn't work great for the tank.

I've been around in the hobby enough to know that no fish, shrimp, or snail is going to fix a huge algae bloom. I also know they will need their own food too, but thanks for reminding me anyway.

I do admit, after hearing MD Fish Tanks talk about them, along with Irene, and countless others, I did (and admit still do at least to some degree) believe in getting algae eaters of some kind to keep a balanced tank. Granted, I'm still learning so I could be wrong, I suppose. But, I never intended them solely for the purpose if eating algae. I wanted them because they'd be a part of the community tank, giving the ecosystem more things to enjoy--with the added bonus of helping keep the algae under control.

Anyway, thanks again for the answers.

Edited August 2 by Shiba

[johnnyxxl]

You are right they are a balanced part of a tank.  I will say as far as temperature goes look into the actual environment for the temperature range.  Online supposedly my tiger barbs only want upper 70's fahrenheit but they are thriving in mid 70's.  Lots of great videos in my tank thread and photos of my tanks transformation.

[redmare]

I am a huge fan of my bristlenoses for algae eating reasons! Whenever I have a BN in a tank, I hardly (if ever) have to clean the glass from algae, but I definitely do in the ones that are either too small or too Oscar-y for the plecos. Just my experience, I love those little guys. Plus, my blue-eyed albino longfin is just an absolutely stunning fish. 10/10. 

[Shiba]

On 8/7/2024 at 12:02 PM, redmare said:

I am a huge fan of my bristlenoses for algae eating reasons! Whenever I have a BN in a tank, I hardly (if ever) have to clean the glass from algae, but I definitely do in the ones that are either too small or too Oscar-y for the plecos. Just my experience, I love those little guys. Plus, my blue-eyed albino longfin is just an absolutely stunning fish. 10/10. 

With your experience, how would a bristlenose pleco do in a 20g high? I've done the research, I know they get a decent size. But, I get the impression that it takes a while, perhaps? Thanks for your time.

[redmare]

On 8/8/2024 at 10:14 AM, Shiba said:

With your experience, how would a bristlenose pleco do in a 20g high? I've done the research, I know they get a decent size. But, I get the impression that it takes a while, perhaps? Thanks for your time.

Personally, I would do one in a 20 high no worries. My longfin is 4 years old and with her beautiful plumage might be a little too long for that size, but a short fin would fit absolutely fine. Just make sure you’ve got wood for them to munch on and some good caves or hiding spots and I’d say go for it. My short fin BN is actually chilling in my 10 gallon (for a few days while I break down an old tank and set up a new one) and he’s fine on space in there. And as another vote for their algae eating, he’s cleaned about half the way overgrown glass in 24 hours!

[Shiba]

On 8/8/2024 at 9:33 AM, redmare said:

Just make sure you’ve got wood for them to munch on and some good caves or hiding spots and I’d say go for it

I have two decently-sized pieces of driftwood. One has made an archway I could see one hiding in there. I have lots of rocks for algae to grow on so there should be plenty of treats for one. I plan on having a lot of stem plants in the back so they could probably hide in between them as well.

On 8/8/2024 at 9:33 AM, redmare said:

And as another vote for their algae eating, he’s cleaned about half the way overgrown glass in 24 hours!

Wow, that's amazing. I watch MD Fish Tanks and he does say BN do really well with algae eating, so after hearing they didn't do well, I was very confused. Thank you for answering.

[redmare]

On 8/8/2024 at 11:31 AM, Shiba said:

I have two decently-sized pieces of driftwood. One has made an archway I could see one hiding in there. I have lots of rocks for algae to grow on so there should be plenty of treats for one. I plan on having a lot of stem plants in the back so they could probably hide in between them as well.

Wow, that's amazing. I watch MD Fish Tanks and he does say BN do really well with algae eating, so after hearing they didn't do well, I was very confused. Thank you for answering.

Sounds like a bristlenose friend will be very happy in your setup! Obviously it’s a fish not a robot so your mileage may vary, but I’m 2/2 in having algae munching machines for BNs and I love them. 

if you can get a little cave like the one in the background here, yours might really appreciate it! My girl likes to hang out in this cave although I want to find a slightly longer one so she doesn’t have to curve in it!

Edited August 8 by redmare

[Lennie]

Don't expect much algae eating from a BN, especially when they grow up. They poop a lot, and you will clean more poop then potential algae they eat.

If you like their look, surely keep one, lean towards females and males tend to claim and hide in a cave more in my experience. 

 

But they poop A LOT. And you need to sustain their diet with high in algae and algae types. Again, don't expectmuch algae eating. They do graze on biofilm and brown diatom or soft flat surface algae, but all those hardy and hairy algae types will be left untouched.

 

You can easily keep one in a 20g tank.

Edited August 8 by Lennie

[TOtrees]

Coming late to the thread. First I wouldn't look at having any algae eaters until and unless you have algae. The best algae eaters are grazers, ie they eat all day, or all night long. Little bits, all the time. New tanks don't have the kind of biofilm or aufwuchs or algae to support them at this stage. Even if you do have brown algae (aka diatoms) in a new setup, it's temporary and will either progress to a stage that doesn't have it, or be eaten up fast by snails/shrimps/bns/whatever if you add them early.

Also I think it's important to realize that algae isn't just one thing. There are many different types, and different fish/creatures will eat different algaes at different rates. I will agree with @Lennie that SAEs are awesome, and do a better job that just about any other, if you can only choose 1. But I take the multi-pronged approach. Eg in one community tank I might have individuals of a couple types of nerites (eg normal + horned), plus a limpet, plus a few amanos, plus bn, plus SAE all in one tank. And yes they can all be in a 20, with other fish. 

I also tend to not keep or hold on to the larger bn or SAEs. For bns, I think you get better algae-eating value from the smaller ones, ie 1-2". That's not to say the bigger ones don't eat algae (I don't like black and white statements), but the amount of algae they eat is low compared to the amount of poop they produce. Most fish stores will be happy to do a straight trade on a big bn pleco for a small one, but even if not small ones (esp plain browns) aren't expensive. Same with SAEs, I find that around 3" they are big enough to bully or pester or bother smaller fish. 

[Shiba]

On 8/8/2024 at 12:18 PM, TOtrees said:

First I wouldn't look at having any algae eaters until and unless you have algae.

The idea is to help prevent an excessive amount of algae in the first place. I prefer preventing problems rather than dealing with them when they come.

On 8/8/2024 at 12:18 PM, TOtrees said:

New tanks don't have the kind of biofilm or aufwuchs or algae to support them at this stage.

I plan to wait a while until some algae grows. I also plan on feeding them so the fact that there isn't a lot of algae shouldn't be a major concern, right?

On 8/8/2024 at 12:18 PM, TOtrees said:

Eg in one community tank I might have individuals of a couple types of nerites (eg normal + horned), plus a limpet, plus a few amanos, plus bn, plus SAE all in one tank. And yes they can all be in a 20, with other fish. 

I understand the multi-prong approach. In fact, I even considered getting nerite snails along with a "main algae eater" to help keep the algae under control. And 2 nerite snails, a limpet, 3 amanos, a bristlenose and a SAE can live in an 20g with other fish? I don't want to get rid of the SAE just 6 months afterward. I hope to keep it fairly long term. I never tried exchanging fish or selling them to a pet store or anything before so I don't know how that goes or if I could even do it with my mnp store or PetSmart.

Edited August 8 by Shiba

[redmare]

On 8/8/2024 at 1:38 PM, Shiba said:

The idea is to help prevent an excessive amount of algae in the first place. I prefer preventing problems rather than dealing with them when they come.

I plan to wait a while until some algae grows. I also plan on feeding them so the fact that there isn't a lot of algae shouldn't be a major concern, right?

I understand the multi-prong approach. In fact, I even considered getting nerite snails along with a "main algae eater" to help keep the algae under control. And 2 nerite snails, a limpet, 3 amanos, a bristlenose and a SAE can live in an 20g with other fish? I don't want to get rid of the SAE just 6 months afterward. I hope to keep it fairly long term. I never tried exchanging fish or selling them to a pet store or anything before so I don't know how that goes or if I could even do it with my mnp store or PetSmart.

As long as youre prepared to feed your cleanup crew, you'll be fine. Also if it's a totally fresh tank, maybe don't make them the first fish you add. I also don't like relying on getting rid of fish as part of the plan, I wouldn't put SAEs in a 20g since they can get a decent size. Amano shrimp are awesome at getting hair algae. If it were my 20 gallon, I would do one BN, a few amanos, a nerite or two, and personally I would have a pack of cherry shrimp and ramshorn or pond snails which chip in as well. 

[Shiba]

I know the sae could get a decent size. I don't want it to be a problem with the other fish, which is why a hillstream was so attractive to me. I never had to worry about it being a problem. It'd stay small and could live its entire life in the 20g, but it prefers cooler water. Otos were also attractive to me. I thought about getting otos but was too afraid that they'd die from starvation.

On 8/8/2024 at 12:43 PM, redmare said:

Amano shrimp are awesome at getting hair algae.

Considered those as well, but I'm trying to figure out the lighting for the tank. I have a basic tetra 20g high lid. Not the best lighting in the world. I could save up for a better light, but then I wouldn't have a hood which concerns me if I were to get amanos.

On 8/8/2024 at 12:43 PM, redmare said:

pack of cherry shrimp

I love cherry shrimp too, but same deal as the amanos.