Best Catfish For Cleaning Tank

[ice(kat)]

my tank keeps getting dirty by the oscars and severums crap i was wondering wat catfish would be the best to clean this meess up cause i clean the tank every week so far for 3 weeks it getting tiring

the crap forms some mould or sumfing then the tank get all these little white fluffs on rocks, pumps, heater, sides of tanks alllllllllllll these litle white fluffs. SO yer wats da best catfish for cleaning

 

[Griz]

Catfish do not eat crap. You'll have to remove that yourself. Large cichlids can be rather messy and any bottom dwelling tankmates that I can think of are only going to add to your problem. What size tank is it and what kind of filtration are you running? I wonder how often you are doing a waterchange and vacuum. You said one a week but how much water did you change? That might be your problem. Another possibility is overfeeding. Uneaten food could be decomposing. Let's solve the problem before you add any more fish to the tank.

 

[ice(kat)]

change whole tank vacuum once a day after lunch. 150G tank sooooo tiring im a newbbbbbb so i dont know wat on earth kind of filtration i have running but it sucks everything that goes near it and i have a layer of cotton the thing u use to clean ure pots and pans and some little tiny cylindrical thingys. i have no idea wat im on about

 

[fish_fetish65]

change whole tank vacuum once a day after lunch. 150G tank sooooo tiring im a newbbbbbb so i dont know wat on earth kind of filtration i have running but it sucks everything that goes near it and i have a layer of cotton the thing u use to clean ure pots and pans and some little tiny cylindrical thingys. i have no idea wat im on about

definitely not a good idea to do 100% water changes. it shocks the fish too much and can mess up the cycle of the tank. from now on i would do about 30% once a week. keep vacuuming. you might want to look into different filters.

 

[ice(kat)]

kz thanx for advice but i thought there were catfish that cleaned the tank

 

[fish_fetish65]

they eat the food that falls down to the bottom, but they create their own waste, and they don't actually eat other fish's waste, just excess food. algae eaters will eat the algae... but that's about it. no poo-eaters that i'm aware of.

if you discover one, though, let the rest of us know. we will love you forever.

 

[RESGuy]

I think that you are talking about the Pleco. Pleco's eat algae that grows on you're tank therefore cleaning it. But their is no fish that eats poop (that I know at least). Pleco's are very similar to Catfish. You may know them as Suckerfish



Here is the link to the Pleco section of the forum:


http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=81

 

[dwarfgourami]

This is a question that comes up ever so often. We all feel that Nature should have provided a fish that did our cleaning for us, but it seems Nature has not been interested in doing any such thing. (What I would be even more interested in, actually, would be a pet that did the housecleaning, ate the dust, weeded the garden and put the children's toys back in the box).

If you think about it, even if there was a fish that ate poo (and I believe there are some such creatures), even then what goes in must come out, it will only be producing new poo of its own. A fish that ate poo and didn't poo itself would...well, explode sooner or later, wouldn't it?

Since you have very messy fish, I would actually suggest vaccuming the tank twice a week. Also, check out the filtration. Take pics if you can and ask in the hardware forum, they might be able to give advise on what you have.

 

[ice(kat)]

ROFL ill train my oscars to be poop eaters so they can clean they tank JokinG.
thanks for all the replys . how stupid of me thinking there were fish that eat poop. carp eat poop though rite? cause i know they eat mud

 

[CFC]

Nope, carp sift through mud to find small aquatic organisms like bloodworm and snails which they eat but the mud and other debries are expelled through the gills. There really are no poo eating fish.
There are however many inverts which eat fish waste to some degree but unfortunately they tend to be very small and would be snacks for oscars so that doesnt help you much.

What i do with large poo (and believe me two foot long fish can create some seriously large poo) is scoop it out with a net as soon as i see it.

 

[ice(kat)]

thanks CFC for reply who is member 1? ure the highest member ive seen reply 585 rofl stupid question

 

[RESGuy]

The first member ever would be Davey Reynolds

 

[Jimmy knows]

There are 3 things that will eat fish poop:
1) Any "Cory Catfish"-These guys will eat most fish poop in your tank. The trick is to skip one day of feeding or cut the dose of food. This will make the Cory Catfish extremely hungry and they will eat anything off the floor of your tank. You need at least 1 per 10 gallon tank but I recommend at least 2 per 10 gallon tank for extra cleaning. They cost around $3.
2) "Ghost Shrimp"-Ghost Shrimp are scavengers and will eat anything off the floor of your tank; extra food, fish poop, and even dead fish. When eating fish poop you can see the poop being digested because these guys have clear, see-through bodies. Buy as many as you can for your tank. I recommend at least 20 per 10 gallon tank. You can buy them for 10 cents each and maybe cheaper. Buy as many as you can trust me! These guys are super cleaners (note: you need to buy a lot because your other fish will probably eat them if you don't feed them well).
3) "Snails"-Snails will eat almost anything in there path which includes fish poop. Buy 1 per 10 gallon tank. They each cost around $2. Note: Try not to add salt or a lot of fish medication because they are very sensitive towards those and can easily die.
Pleco's (sucker fish) don't help when it comes to fish poop. They actually do more harm to your tank then cleaning. If you buy all three of these creatures I recommended then you will never have to clean the bottom of your tank with a syphon. You will only have to change the water. To really clean your tank spotless you have to remember, "the trick is to skip a day of feeding or cut the dose of food for a day or so".
If you have any questions about this or any fish related questions you can email me at [email protected]. Please no spam or advertisements.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Jimmy does not know! Corydoras are not coprophages and should not be expected to live on a diet that is not suitable for them. To the contrary, they are very prone to bacterial diseases if their substrate is not kept clean.
Why are you resurrecting this ancient thread to provide disinformation?

 

[Fella]

There really are no poo eating fish.

The exception of course being a scat. but if waste goes in one end, it's got to come out the other. No matter how many times you "recycle" it.