# algae eating/shrimp fry safe fish



## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

Anyone know of an algae eating, shrimp fry/plant safe nano fish besides an Oto? Something that stays under 2" or smaller.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

All Otocinclus species, Nannoptoma, Hisonotus, Acestridium etc. are not predatory at all and should be fine.


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## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

> All Otocinclus species, Nannoptoma, Hisonotus, Acestridium etc. are not predatory at all and should be fine.


 Thanks Johan but I forgot to mention 'besides an oto'..any fish that looks like or behaves like a pleco.


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## Tihsho (Nov 4, 2015)

I think you're either limited by the size of the fish or the slight predation due to being opportunistic. That said American Flagfish are great on algae, but I believe they will be opportunistic (might want to poke around the internet on this one.)

What algae are you looking to control?


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## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

> [What algae are you looking to control?]


Not really sure, but I do have a pic of it on the Algae forum. Tbh my main concern is the shrimp fry, I just mentioned algae eaters thinking they may be the safest dudes to put in there (plus the tank has algae everywhere). I have 3 oto's now and they never mess with shrimp or the babies but what I really want is an actual 'swimming' fish lol. Everything in my tank stays basically parked, outside of the occasional shrimp switching grazing locations or a startled oto.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Flagfish like algae, but LOVE baby shrimp. I speak from experience. How about nerite snails?


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## lidanhew (Nov 14, 2015)

What temp should tank be for bumblebee and red crystal shrimp ?


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## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

> Flagfish like algae, but LOVE baby shrimp. I speak from experience. How about nerite snails?


yeah then, it's a no with those Flagfish lol. If you seen my lil' 5.5 gallon tank you'd laugh, I have 11 adult spike tail Malaysian trumpet snails (Melanoides granifera) maybe 25 juvies and around 300 - 400 babies. When the lights go on in the morning they're literally everywhere. There's also 20+ cherry shrimp and 3 oto's in there too (plus plants) yet the algae keeps chugging along.


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## Tihsho (Nov 4, 2015)

Sounds like it's time for EI dosing and pressurized CO2 more so then algae eaters  At that point you can put in whatever you want fish wise that's shrimp safe.


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## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

> Sounds like it's time for EI dosing and pressurized CO2 more so then algae eaters At that point you can put in whatever you want fish wise that's shrimp safe.


EI dosing and pressurized CO2? NEVER!!!  Seriously though I'm not a fan. ~ty


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## Tihsho (Nov 4, 2015)

What's wrong with them? I use to be against CO2 because of the cost, then was against EI based on having more things to do, but in the long run after weighing the pros vs. cons it was only an initial investment with the CO2 that was high (though for me it wasn't bad as it was just the price of tank deposit as I was gifted regs) and time when it came to EI as it was cheaper than 500ml bottles of Seachem stuff.


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## JButera (Oct 3, 2015)

> What's wrong with them? I use to be against CO2 because of the cost, then was against EI based on having more things to do, but in the long run after weighing the pros vs. cons it was only an initial investment with the CO2 that was high (though for me it wasn't bad as it was just the price of tank deposit as I was gifted regs) and time when it came to EI as it was cheaper than 500ml bottles of Seachem stuff.


 I really hate the idea of running CO2 and EI dosing, imo it's too much 'life support' for a regular everyday planted tank. I'm always impressed when I see a *flourishing* planted tank that doesn't do CO2 or EI and has crystal clear water. Anyone who can pull that off is brilliant.


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## Tihsho (Nov 4, 2015)

The only tanks that I've been able to pull off cleanly without CO2 and but still a ferts schedule (non EI) were honestly tanks that were neglected. What do I mean? Well I just let them do their thing and constantly did top offs rather than water changes and cleaned the filters when I had to, rather than when I needed to. The problem with this is that I had limitations on plant species. When it comes to the internet, take your info with a grain of salt. I've seen it from different forums that some people don't give full details or skew the truth to make something impossible "possible."

I agree that the life support part is somewhat 'stupid' and just another thing you need to do for a tank that cuts into the 'sit back and enjoy' part. But that said, we are all in the hobby for different reasons. I'm working to automate most of the tedious tasking so that I have to put in simple work once a week and let the system do the heavy lifting throughout the day on a daily basis. But that is enough of me derailing


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