# Algae eaters in your tank?



## 9thirty (Nov 16, 2007)

Hey again,
I was just wondering what kind of algae eaters you might have in your tank to keep those green plagues at bay. Would you guys recommend a siamese algaeeater or something else?


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

I have Ancistrus sp., otos, snails, cherry red shrimp, and true SAE's in various tanks. 

It all depends on the size of the tank and you choice for what goes in there IMO.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

What I've read/experienced:

True SAEs are good for larger tanks, but they can get a bit lazy & quarrelsome in their old age.
Otos are good for smaller tanks, if you can keep them fed. CAEs are generally bad news.
Pond & MT Snails are good for gently cleaning plant leaves (as are Otos), but if you overfeed, you'll have pounds of them.
Flagfish are good for certain types of algae but sometimes go after plants if the algae runs out (as do some Pleco species).
Mollies and Gouramis do eat a little algae from plant stems etc, they'll even yank hair algae, only to spit it out, but it gets some off the plants.
Shrimp (Amano, Cherry etc). eat algae but aren't the best scrubbers of glass and they are popcorn for larger fish.

In short, having a few Otos & snails around are good for keeping algae to a minimum on plant leaves. Scrapers are best for glass, nothing but careful management of inputs (food, CO2, light) & algicides (or, better yet, Excel) seems to kill cladophora - hair algae.


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Squawkbert said:


> What I've read/experienced:
> 
> True SAEs are good for larger tanks, but they can get a bit lazy & quarrelsome in their old age.
> Otos are good for smaller tanks, if you can keep them fed. CAEs are generally bad news.
> ...


Squawbert, I am sorry to hear you are having a bad time with algae eaters 
I keep a few both Amano and cherry shrimp for hair algae.
I will kill any snail that enters my tank except Nerites. Nerites will clean you glass real well. I also keep some ottos more for visual than algae contol...but they help the Nerites.

But for my money Nerites have been the best algae eaters I have bought.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Guppies/Endlers are great for eating algae off of fine-leaved plants. Otherwise, ditto what the other people have already put.

I would stay away from Chinese algae eaters; they tend to get pretty territorial and chase any fish that stray too close. A bit too obnoxious for me. I would say too, that snails and shrimp are great, as well as ottocinclus.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

The following combination of fish will pretty much devour all known types of algae, excluding Blue Green Algae, although it is said that Nerite Snails will eat BGA.

Siamese Algae Eater: Does get lazy in its old age but if you get one when it is young it will do a number on all types of algae, even the dreaded black brush/black beard algae that nothing else will touch.

Bristlenose Pleco: Another good one that will pretty much devour all types of algae, although some claim it can do a number on sword plant and java fern leaves due to its rough handling of these leaves.

Nerite Snail: Will also devour most types of algae, including the dreaded green spot algae that nothing else will touch. You need a tightly covered tank, if you get one or it will escape.

Black Mollies and Rosy Barbs: Will eat string/thread/hair algae like sphagetti, but some claim that they fish will damage leaves in their unrelenting attempts to yank the algae off the leaves. 

Shrimp are said to be highly sensitive to temperature and tank parameters.

If I were to set up another large aquarium with a tight fitting cover, I would put together a team of the above algae eaters. The SAE and Nerite snail, combined, however could probably take care of 99% of your algae. Combine this with moderate lighting and a good fert dosing program and algae will not be something that should become a huge problem.


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Nerite Snail: Will also devour most types of algae, including the dreaded green spot algae that nothing else will touch. You need a tightly covered tank, if you get one or it will escape.


You do not nessicarily need a tightly covered tank to keep nerites, I have had them for quite some time (year and a half-ish) and have only lost one to crawling out of the tank. Nerites like to come up out of the water for a time and I usually keep a waterline 1" from the top of the tank and I think that suits their needs.

Of coarse, everyones experience will differ from mine. Maybe snails just like my water:noidea:

I can say this, I recently took the nerites out of a tank (leaving the ottos and shrimp in) and the glass started to turn green in a matter of days. And algea that had never showed up on driftwood started growing. I will put them and a new shipment back in the tank soon.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Shrimp are said to be highly sensitive to temperature and tank parameters.


Temp - no, most algae eating shrimp are not very picky about temp, but they are picky about certain things being in the water - you need water that's Cu free and very low in ferts, NO2, NH3 and is generally pretty clean. They'll tolerate low levels of NO3 - think of doing EI at ~1/10 scale.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Ditto with "Squaky"; NO Copper!! Mine all died when I fertilized with Cu within about 12 hours. I hear that they can theoretically handle a very minute amount, but I don't trust that. I never dose nitrogen, either, into a shrimp tank.

Otherwise, they hand Excel, CO2, Phosphourus, Iron, trace ferts quite nicely! Mine are regularly berried, and do very well in temps ranging from upper 60's to low 80's. I have my tank set at about 72-74F currently. I think that they are pretty hardy, and very helpful and interesting to watch swimming around.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

In my experience, Ancistrus are great for softer algae, but not the tougher types such as spot and new tank syndrome types that need to be scraped off the glass with a razorblade, but have never bothered plants. Otos devour brown. Rosy Barbs hands down eliminate all hair algae types in my tanks. Nothing seems to have an appetite for BBA.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

rwoehr said:


> In my experience, Ancistrus are great for softer algae, but not the tougher types such as spot and new tank syndrome types that need to be scraped off the glass with a razorblade, but have never bothered plants. Otos devour brown. Rosy Barbs hands down eliminate all hair algae types in my tanks. *Nothing seems to have an appetite for BBA.*


Right now, I have a 40 gallon algae farm with all types of algae imaginable and I have thrown in Otos, a SAE and Ancistrus. I have seen the SAE go through *BBA* like knife through butter. I have observed the ancitrus and SAE relentlessly clean the dieing green dust algae off the glass and I have seen the SAE go through diatoms faster than the Otos. Of course everyone's experiences will be different. But this is what I have personally witnessed first hand with my 40 gallon algae farm. I have three experimental tanks running with two more just added. One tank gets regular fert dosing and the other one does not. In both cases, the cherry shrimps died and while I could understand how dosing nitrates and a trace mix with copper could have caused this in one of the tanks, it does not explain why there were shrimp deaths in the fert free tank. I can only see one of two things being responsible. The shrimp were not healthy to begin with or tank temperature. When the tank temperature rose significantly, it seemed to coincide with the red cherry shrimp deaths.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

Biggest drawback with SAE's is that they will also eat most mosses.


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

_Farlowella acus_ are unsung heroes in my experience. They will clean your tank walls in a matter of days.


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## 9thirty (Nov 16, 2007)

mikenas102 said:


> Biggest drawback with SAE's is that they will also eat most mosses.


Oh my gosh, is this true? I sure hope that not all of them have a appetite for mosses. 
Would farlowella acus and SAE be a good combination?


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

9thirty said:


> Oh my gosh, is this true? I sure hope that not all of them have a appetite for mosses.
> Would farlowella acus and SAE be a good combination?


I don't know about farlowellas. As far as SAE eating mosses, I never had moss in the tank that I had them in so I don't know. My concern would be that if you have several mostly bottom dwelling fish like farlowella acus and SAE, it would be difficult to predict what would happen when the supply of algae becomes scarce and they are forced to compete for any remaining algae. They could even end up bickering over and algae wafers that you place in the tank and one could get seriously injured in the scuffle. And as they get larger they may become even more territorial as far as claiming any free space and food. This is something that I overlooked when I put them in my 40 gallon. Time will tell how this will all play out, but I would probably be careful about adding too many fish of any kind that are likely to occupy the same levels in the tank and end up competing and possibly fighting with one another. One fish is likely to lose the battle and will become severly stressed.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Yeah....BBA=hydrogen peroxide application through a medicine dropper!!!!


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## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

SAE's get big quickly, become lazy over time, are really hard to catch, and make your moss look like a bunch threads..they strip off all the mossy goodness!


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## 9thirty (Nov 16, 2007)

lowfi said:


> SAE's get big quickly, become lazy over time, are really hard to catch, and make your moss look like a bunch threads..they strip off all the mossy goodness!


Seriously? Oh my. are there any other fish that are as capable as SAE? i'm beginning to get a bit iffy regarding these fish, hehe.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Right now, I have a 40 gallon algae farm with all types of algae imaginable and I have thrown in Otos, a SAE and Ancistrus. I have seen the SAE go through *BBA* like knife through butter. I have observed the ancitrus and SAE relentlessly clean the dieing green dust algae off the glass and I have seen the SAE go through diatoms faster than the Otos. Of course everyone's experiences will be different.


We all do have different experiences, Homer. Sounds like you've had better success with algae eating fish than I have. I was not impressed with the SAE's I had. Oh well, I guess I'm just going to overdose with Excel and pray the BBA goes away. I wish I could get to the bottom of why BBA grows so well in my tanks so that I could nip the source from the beginning!


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Rwoehr

Use a syringe to inject the Excel directly on the BBA, Amano shrimp should take care of the rest after it turns white. At least this has worked for me.


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## DaFishMan (Dec 4, 2005)

BN Plecos, Amano Shrimps, MTS snails, Red Ramshorn Snails.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

rwoehr said:


> .. I wish I could get to the bottom of why BBA grows so well in my tanks so that I could nip the source from the beginning!


I hear you and know I you feel. I wish I could solve this mystery. It is said that a lack of c02 contributes to BBA growth. I have my c02 set to 30ppm as per c02 drop checker as it shows a lime green color. I know that this is accurate and ain't monkeying around with the c02 levels. The last time I did this, the drop checker turned yellow, my fish were all gasping and near death, and my elderly Siamese Algae Eater died due to an overdose of c02.

One thing that I am finding is that BBA does not seem to form(regardless of c02 injection or not) in my tank(s) where lighting is kept minimal(just enough for the plants to grow but not so much that algae thrives, 1.5-2.0 watts per gallon no more) and the tank(s) are packed to the max with plants.

Also, besides the SAE, I am finding that frequent partial(3x week) water changes in my 40 gallon where the BBA is a huge problem combined with EI fert dosing, and 2x dosing with Excel appears to be causing the BBA to recede.


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## _chicken_ (Oct 7, 2007)

rwoehr said:


> Rosy Barbs hands down eliminate all hair algae types in my tanks.


I don't know if my rosy barbs eat hair algae or not (there isn't any hair algae in their tanks, but is that because they ate it or because it was never there to begin with?), but they do eat plants! Unless I keep them _very_ well fed and give them lettuce on a clip every day, they eat my plants. Even tough plants like anubias, java fern, and swords. They don't eat the mature leaves, but I have seen them eat the new leaves.

Maybe my experience isn't typical, but I would not recommend introducing rosy barbs into a planted tank for algae control.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

_chicken_ said:


> I don't know if my rosy barbs eat hair algae or not
> 
> Maybe my experience isn't typical, but I would not recommend introducing rosy barbs into a planted tank for algae control.


Probably because they ate it all! I had great experiences with them in my planted tanks, even with glosso, but they are nippy and a tank with HC would not be a good choice, buy stem plants are OK.


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## _chicken_ (Oct 7, 2007)

rwoehr said:


> Probably because they ate it all! I had great experiences with them in my planted tanks, even with glosso, but they are nippy and a tank with HC would not be a good choice, buy stem plants are OK.


Interesting. I have definitely seen them go after stem plants in my tank too. I had to give up on Hygrophila difformis once they developed a taste for it, because they just would not leave it alone! Maybe my barbs have a more voracious apetite for plants than most??


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Homer, 2 years ago, Tom Barr was over at my house checking out my planted tanks since he was in town for a club meeting. He noticed my BBA, ripped some off the filter part, rubbed it between his thumb and finger, examined it, then told me to crank up my CO2 as high as I could without killing my fish to combat BBA. I did this for several months to no avail, but never considered cutting back on the lights until reading a recent thread in the algae forum. Today I bumped it down from 10 to 8 hours. This may also be the reason why my algae eating fish attempts didn't pan out for me. We also had a SWOAPE meeting this past weekend and did a group order on some generic Excel. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will work out for me. 

Chicken, it sounds like your Rosy Barbs are quite Vegan with an appetite for plants!  LOL! I aquired mine from a BAP auction very young, grew them out to adulthood in a planted tank, and they always ate like pigs whether it was fish food or algae. Maybe it is I that had the rare plant friendly experience with Rosy Barbs or didn't pay that close of attention to my plants being eaten? 

Good luck 9thirty with your algae eating fish. It sounds like you now have some good advice from people who have had success fighting different types of algae with different fish.


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## jkunkel (Nov 14, 2007)

Flying fox will eat algae too! they look almost like SAE's. I have one and he is always hyper and always hungry!


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## Missy B (Jul 8, 2007)

Anyone had any experience with common or bushy nose plecostomus as algae eaters?


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

Bushy nose, yes  Common: run screaming in the opposite direction!


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

Missy B said:


> Anyone had any experience with common or bushy nose plecostomus as algae eaters?


The Albino Bushy Nose Pleco that I threw in my 40 gallon, comes out at night and seems to be doing a good job going at the dieing green dust algae and diatoms in the wee hours of the night. In the day time he goes into hiding.

The Siamese Algae Eater seems to be targeting the dieing green dust algae, black brush algae(there is none left, he ate it all), and diatoms 24/7 day and night.


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## wakemenow (Jul 26, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> One thing that I am finding is that BBA does not seem to form(regardless of c02 injection or not) in my tank(s) where lighting is kept minimal(just enough for the plants to grow but not so much that algae thrives, 1.5-2.0 watts per gallon no more) and the tank(s) are packed to the max with plants.


Just for the record...I have found this advice to be true. For almost a month, my 10g tank had been plagued with a variety of algaes, including BBA. I tried dosing Excel more frequently but nothing changed. So, a few weeks ago I removed one of the lights (18w compact fluorescent) leaving only one 15w "grow light." The algae diminished within days. I turned the light off for two days straight and it didn't look like the same tank anymore. Recently I added a few more plants (while waiting to get my new tank) and everything is great. Occasionally I do turn on the second lamp for an hour or two, but that's it.

I had followed the advice that 3wpg was needed, especially in smaller tanks. Without adding Co2 (beyond Excel) it's a recipe for algae problems, IMO.

Thanks for the sage advice, though I wish I had seen it sooner!


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

wakemenow said:


> Just for the record...I have found this advice to be true. For almost a month, my 10g tank had been plagued with a variety of algaes, including BBA. I tried dosing Excel more frequently but nothing changed. So, a few weeks ago I removed one of the lights (18w compact fluorescent) leaving only one 15w "grow light." The algae diminished within days. I turned the light off for two days straight and it didn't look like the same tank anymore. Recently I added a few more plants (while waiting to get my new tank) and everything is great. Occasionally I do turn on the second lamp for an hour or two, but that's it.
> 
> I had followed the advice that 3wpg was needed, especially in smaller tanks. Without adding Co2 (beyond Excel) it's a recipe for algae problems, IMO.
> 
> Thanks for the sage advice, though I wish I had seen it sooner!


Thanks . One other thing that I noticed and I no that this is not new, but I am one of those who has to see something to believe it. I started adding floating plants to try and deal with algae(just about every kind) that had plagued one of my tanks because I started the tank with too much light and not enough plants. Well, within two weeks of adding the floating plant(cardamine in this case) the algae is beginning to recede. I made no other changes to the tank that could account for this as I had tried everything else imaginable and nothing appeared to be working.

This raises a interesting question. Does or do the floating plants work to keep algae at bay and cause existing algae to recede because they suck up excess nutrients in the water and starve the algae or do they work because they block out excess light as some suggest, depriving the algae of the excess light that algae requires to thrive. The common consensus is that if everything is in a balance c02, ferts, light, sufficient plants and the tank is stable than the issue of excess light or nutrients is a non-issue. But in an unbalanced or unstable tank, this is not true and the floating plants may serve as a quick fix to allow time to work on issues that caused the instability or imablance that led to the algae.


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## wakemenow (Jul 26, 2007)

I've read that some plants actually send out toxins that inhibit algae growth. You may have stumbled upon one of those.


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