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Looking for compatible algae eater options


DrwHem
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I have a 1 year old 60 gallon canister filter tank. I would say it's moderately planted. This is the current population:

8 tiger barbs

1 rainbow shark

2  dwarf gourami

8 neon tetras

8 unknown danios, forgot what they were when I got them.

Around 25 to 50 ramshorn snails. I recently bought some assassin snails to try and curb this. This has been a constant war. Started with 2 a year ago.

I used to have cherry shrimp in my old tank but I know the barbs will eat them. Are there any shrimp,crabs, crawfish ect that would be able to live in this setup? I miss the little critters in my new tank. And it would be nice to only have to scrape the glass twice a month instead of weekly

 

 

 

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I would find a new home for the ramshorn, and the assassin snails and replace that crew with Nerite snails, especially military helmet nails which are a variety of Nerites if you can find them, since they even go after GSA which is what likes to settle on the glass. By the way scraping once a week makes it much less hard, and it actually takes less time than monthly.

As to crabs and crawfish I'm sure you could find some but your problem could easily turn into the opposite of keeping your inverts from eating your fish.

I'd go with the Nerites, some otocinclus, and some corydoras, combined with the weekly water changes and maintenance it should help keep algae at bay.

Hope this helps.

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Hey @DrwHem, welcome to the forum!

I would agree with @Jungle Fan on this one. Nerite snails would work out fine. Just remember to remove all the assassin snails. Removing them can be difficult if your assassin snails have been reproducing, as there could be many hiding under the substrate. So remember all of them are gone before you add in nerite snails (also, sell the assassins to your local fish store, as they can make you quite a bit of money in my experience).

Anyway, after the nerite snails, maybe add in a bristlenose pleco or similar. The reason I chose these species was because you need something a bit more tough, hardy, and resilient for your setup.

Now about @Jungle Fan's suggestion again. Although I agree with the nerites, I would say no to the otos and the corydoras for several reasons. First, these fish would not be able to compete for food in an aquarium with several voracious schooling fish and a territorial rainbow shark. Also, in my experience, the corydoras will not eat the algae, but instead eat crustaceans, insects, and worms in the substrate.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

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@CorydorasEthan you and I agree on the Nerites but on the 'cleaner fish; we disagree because otos don't really compete with barbs, danios, and sharks, they primarily look for plant food like spirulina, and they will clean leaves of algae. I've kept them successfully in tanks with those fish in the past. And while corys would not be my first choice as an algae prevention crew, I had corys in the past in new tanks, right after cycling was complete, and they used to love going after diatom algae, aka brown algae, however in general I do agree with your assessment on corys, and except for the larger varieties like Green Corys you are right in that I'm not sure they would do really well in this particular community.

In regards to bristlenosed plecos, I know they are generally praised for algae eating but in my experience they are much better at eating sword plants and waiting for spirulina wafers, blanched lettuce, and cucumber slices while being perfectly happy to watch algae grow. It's been many years now that they busted their own myth for me. Besides my 75 gallon I have another blackwater tank with just a fairly large bristlenose, and a clown peckoltia those two have been buddies for years and I keep them because I like their looks but definitely not for their algae eating prowess, that tank in that regard depends solely on the human algae prevention crew of the home.

The best algae prevention is weekly maintenance and water changes in my opinion, any cleaning crew is only an additional detail, and in this hobby even the slightest tiny bit helps, but to rely on it exclusively is a recipe for pre-programmed disappointment.

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9 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

@CorydorasEthan you and I agree on the Nerites but on the 'cleaner fish; we disagree because otos don't really compete with barbs, danios, and sharks, they primarily look for plant food like spirulina, and they will clean leaves of algae. I've kept them successfully in tanks with those fish in the past. And while corys would not be my first choice as an algae prevention crew, I had corys in the past in new tanks, right after cycling was complete, and they used to love going after diatom algae, aka brown algae, however in general I do agree with your assessment on corys, and except for the larger varieties like Green Corys you are right in that I'm not sure they would do really well in this particular community.

In regards to bristlenosed plecos, I know they are generally praised for algae eating but in my experience they are much better at eating sword plants and waiting for spirulina wafers, blanched lettuce, and cucumber slices while being perfectly happy to watch algae grow. It's been many years now that they busted their own myth for me. Besides my 75 gallon I have another blackwater tank with just a fairly large bristlenose, and a clown peckoltia those two have been buddies for years and I keep them because I like their looks but definitely not for their algae eating prowess, that tank in that regard depends solely on the human algae prevention crew of the home.

The best algae prevention is weekly maintenance and water changes in my opinion, any cleaning crew is only an additional detail, and in this hobby even the slightest tiny bit helps, but to rely on it exclusively is a recipe for pre-programmed disappointment.

Wow we certainly have had different experiences! I will definitely keep a closer eye on my corydoras to see if they eat any brown algae though, as that is quite interesting. Thanks for the insight and your experiences (I am out of reactions for the day)!

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@CorydorasEthan I am ORD once again too or I would have clicked like on your post. My only thought on the bristlenosed plecos is that there are different varieties, and while I have had three different versions they all acted the same way in regards to algae. The current one is almost seven inches in size and about 15 years old, my wife calls him fish grandpa.

Those corys in my tanks that actually touched brown algae were Corydoras melanistius and Green Corydoras, back then I was into Japanese style aquascapes and left sand in the foreground with a few accent pebbles. Before I added them I still had a bit of brown algae from the tank getting its balance clearly visible, two days later it was gone.

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3 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

@CorydorasEthan I am ORD once again too or I would have clicked like on your post. My only thought on the bristlenosed plecos is that there are different varieties, and while I have had three different versions they all acted the same way in regards to algae. The current one is almost seven inches in size and about 15 years old, my wife calls him fish grandpa.

Those corys in my tanks that actually touched brown algae were Corydoras melanistius and Green Corydoras, back then I was into Japanese style aquascapes and left sand in the foreground with a few accent pebbles. Before I added them I still had a bit of brown algae from the tank getting its balance clearly visible, two days later it was gone.

Yes I have only had one bristlenose pleco so far, and it seemed she was not interested in algae except for during water changes (she really enjoyed stealing food from my cories). But after she died, the level of algae (on the glass) has gone up significantly in the aquarium, and even my three new-ish otos don't seem to be doing the job that she used to do.

I will look into those cories too. It has me wondering how many species will eat algae and in what conditions.

Thanks!

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