# Fish that eat java moss or hair algae?



## egementt (Jun 27, 2006)

I'm looking for small fish specie that can eat java moss or hair algae. The fish need to be small so SAE's don't work.


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Ack. You said small. Sorry...I was going to suggest Florida Flagfish.


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I was going to say SAE's too, but never mind. 

You could try some Amano shrimp, depending on what the other tank mates are. As for the moss, is there a particular reason you want something to eat it? If you just don't want it in the tank, you could try manually remove it.


----------



## egementt (Jun 27, 2006)

Actually I'm working on a small sized self sustaining totally closed system. I was thinking of using java moss as the producer of the system. Seems like it'll be hard to find a fish that eats it. Hair algae can work too so I'm open to suggestions.


----------



## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

"small" is not very precise - but platys will eat filamentous algae pretty well - especially if you don't feed them too often. 

The only problem is that they breed so fast that they will overpopulate the tank in a short time if there is enough cover for the fry.


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

If it's a closed, self sustaining system, I don't recommend any fish. It can work, but it's far from the right environment for anything.
Maybe a snail or two, but in reality, the closed systems aren't a good system for living things in general.


----------



## blackBRUSHalgae (May 4, 2007)

Rosy barb will slurp your green filamentous algae like spaghetti.


----------



## Darter02 (Feb 19, 2007)

My Pencilfish pick at the Java Moss all the time. Of course, I don't think they make a big dent in it... I think I'd need 100s to do that...


----------

