Clean Up Crew

[jimmy_veal]

Hi all.
I am looking into getting a 'Clean Up Crew' for my tank, just something to eat algae and left over food, but don't want them to take over my tank - i was thinking of maybe a couple of snails or shrimp but haven't any ideas of what is best.
I have a Panda Garra, and a Albino Bristlenose Plec, but the Plec never seems to come out of hiding. The Panda Garra does eat some algae but he needs some help from some new tank mates.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tizer]

feed less, cut down how long your lights are on for, add more flow to the tank and all your problems are solved.

 

[I'm the new guy]

Corys keep food off the bottom. Bristle-nose destroys algae. Otto are great for algae.

 

[jimmy_veal]

Do ottos need to be keep in groups or are they ok on their own?

 

[slimeneo]

Do ottos need to be keep in groups or are they ok on their own?

They need to be in groups. And you'll need to feed them algae wafers because they probably won't get their fill by only eating the algae in your tank.

I have an algae problem in my tank, but because it's so small I'm just going with malaysian trumpet snails They do multiply quickly.. but only if you overfeed.

 

[star4]

My clean up crew is my gravel vac and a sponge for the glass!

 

[elmo666]

Your albino will be active but when your sleeping, put night surveillance on the tank lol. As mentioned above, if you have lots of algae you should first and foremost tackle the causes. If there is any food left within 2 mins of feeding then you need to feed less or be prepared to clean it out pdq. Other causes are too much light, too few water changes and over-dosing ferts if you use them. There are loads of options for algae grazers, my favs being otos or shrimp. However, they will graze only, not control it if algae is excessive.

 

[Baccus]

Rather than MTS for algea control (they spend 99% of their time in the substrate) you might be better off with one apple or mystery snail at least it can't breed all on its own.

 

[Livewire88]

My choice is Shrimp and a variety of different types of snails (not MTS)

 

[slimeneo]

My choice is Shrimp and a variety of different types of snails (not MTS)

Why not mts?

 

[GreedySpoon]

simple reason of being A-sexual i got some hitch hikers on some plants and cant get rid of them, i dont want snail killers because i have a large apple snail in there and a clown louche will be a large extra to the tank.

 

[Baccus]

I have MTS in my tanks and even though they can be good for keeping sand substrate sifted and air rated, I get sick and tired of them emerging like plagues of zombies to scoff the food in my cory tank. And I can't use any snail killer poisons in my tanks since I also have shrimp and so far I have not found a fish with a taste for MTS. Although my Pakastani loaches and Dwarf chains are making great inroads on the rams horn populations. Another great option in snails are nerite snails, almost all of them require brackish for thier larva to survive so in a pure fresh tank they are not likely to ever multiply.