Finding the Right Algae Eater

[shaziasadiqah]

So, in my 57gal i have two blackghost. They seem to be very enjoying their new tank because it has lots of plants and rocks to hide.

the thing is, now the tank have a lot of algae, so much that it worries me that it might take over the whole plants in there.

can someone give me any advice to find an algae eater that would be thriving with my two blackghost knife?

can a school of albino corydoras from my other tank be okay if they join the blackghost knifes?

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I think you can try the Golden Chinese Algae Eater but they can get more aggressive when they grow older.
They will try to suck the slime of bigger fish.
This fish can clean your tank from all algae in just 2-3 days if you have two of this fish.

How big is your Corydoras?
Black ghost knife fish are aggressive.

Fish Focus: Golden Algae Eater – First Time Fish Keeper

The Golden Algae Eater is a yellow/golden coloured fish from the Chinese Algae Eater family (Gyrinocheilos aymonieri). They are a suckermouth catfish that predominantly live off of algae & algae wafers.

firsttimemarinekeeper.com

 

[shaziasadiqah]

I think you can try the Golden Chinese Algae Eater but they can get more aggressive when they grow older.
They will try to suck the slime of bigger fish.

How big is your Corydoras?
Black ghost knife fish are aggressive.

Fish Focus: Golden Algae Eater – First Time Fish Keeper

The Golden Algae Eater is a yellow/golden coloured fish from the Chinese Algae Eater family (Gyrinocheilos aymonieri). They are a suckermouth catfish that predominantly live off of algae & algae wafers.

firsttimemarinekeeper.com

Golden Algae Eater is so pretty even though i haven't seen them before, especially in my LFS.

Right now the albino corydoras are juvenile, they are pretty small even though i know that they won't fit in my BGK mouth yet. I plan to keep the Cories in a separated tank for some time until they are big enough.

My BGK are 11cm and 15cm now. So far i find them very on their own, they don't mess with their tank mates (platy and angels). I think the BGK are not aggressive towards them because they swim in different area and never really get into the BGK hiding spots. But, algae eater mostly are bottom dweller and have higher chance to come across the BGK, that what's makes me worry.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I guess it's better to get either :
1)Siamese Algae Eater or
2)Bristlenose Pleco.
I like Starlight Pleco which is beautiful and they don't get too large.

Home - Nualgi Ponds

THIS WEEKEND ONLY, GET A FREE NUALGI ORGANIC DIGESTER WITH PURCHASE OVER $99* SHOP NOW *Total before shipping and any discounts. Free Organic Digester

nualgiaquarium.com

https/aquaticarts.com/products/l183-starlight-bristlenose-pleco#:~:text=The Starlight Bristlenose Pleco has,undemanding candidate for most aquariums.

Bristlenose Pleco 101: Care, Lifespan, Size, & Breeding

Bristlenose Plecos are a unique and fun freshwater fish that are growing in popularity. Learn how to take care of them in this brand new guide!

www.aquariumsource.com

Bristlenose Pleco Care, Size, Tank, Lifespan & More

The bristlenose pleco is a freshwater species of the family Loricariidae. They're popular due to their hardy nature and tank cleaning abilities.

www.fishkeepingworld.com

 

[shaziasadiqah]

I guess it's better to get either :
1)Siamese Algae Eater or
2)Bristlenose Pleco.
I like Starlight Pleco which is beautiful and they don't get too large.

Home - Nualgi Ponds

THIS WEEKEND ONLY, GET A FREE NUALGI ORGANIC DIGESTER WITH PURCHASE OVER $99* SHOP NOW *Total before shipping and any discounts. Free Organic Digester

nualgiaquarium.com

https/aquaticarts.com/products/l183-starlight-bristlenose-pleco#:~:text=The Starlight Bristlenose Pleco has,undemanding candidate for most aquariums.

Bristlenose Pleco 101: Care, Lifespan, Size, & Breeding

Bristlenose Plecos are a unique and fun freshwater fish that are growing in popularity. Learn how to take care of them in this brand new guide!

www.aquariumsource.com

Bristlenose Pleco Care, Size, Tank, Lifespan & More

The bristlenose pleco is a freshwater species of the family Loricariidae. They're popular due to their hardy nature and tank cleaning abilities.

www.fishkeepingworld.com

Thank you

will look them around my LFS.

 

[the_lock_man]

Personally, I think the best way to deal with algae is to stop what's caused it to appear in the first place. There's obviously something causing it, so put that right, don't buy more livestock.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

Personally, I think the best way to deal with algae is to stop what's caused it to appear in the first place. There's obviously something causing it, so put that right, don't buy more livestock.

I might be missing something but i have tried to go easy on the light, fertilizer and even decreasing the amount of food i feed my fishes. Still, the only time my tank (kinda) algae free is when i do a water change and scrub all the algae from the glass and wipe the algae on my plants, because it is a heavily planted tank there are lots of small spaces my hands can’t get into without messing up the plants.

if anyone can advice me about how to stop or at least control algae growth in my tank i would love to try it

 

[Metalhead88]

As far as "doing work" you won't find anything better than a bristlenose pleco. In my area, these plecos have been at an insane demand and have been really hard to come by. The prices have tripled recently....maybe even more. I guess people have finally figured out these are one of the best algea eaters and also they can be kept in almost any aquarium given it is the proper size.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

As far as "doing work" you won't find anything better than a bristlenose pleco. In my area, these plecos have been at an insane demand and have been really hard to come by. The prices have tripled recently....maybe even more. I guess people have finally figured out these are one of the best algea eaters and also they can be kept in almost any aquarium given it is the proper size.

Yes, i have read many times that bristlenose pleco are great. I don’t really want to add more fish tbh but looking at my betta tank with 6 shrimps in there, that is the cleanest tank i got, not that i neglect it (i still do 50% water change for all my tanks once a week) it’s just it doesn’t sit there covered in algae begging me to do something about it lol

since i already got the cories from my other tank i’ll try to move them to my 57gal once they are bigger and see what happens, if it didn’t work out i’ll get them back to their original tank and maybe try bristlenose pleco or..... using Co2, they say it solve algae problem.

 

[hansgruber7]

Sometimes you just need to experiment with lighting and fertilizers to reduce algae. Usually it's coming from an imbalance between lighting and fertilizers. Sometimes you need to counterintuitively increase one or the other. I found when I reduced my lighting to around 9 hours a day, and switched to using Aquarium Co Op Easy Green fertilizer, and then added frogbit to soak up nutrients, it solved my algae problem. I added a nerite snail who is great at cleaning the glass and a large population of dwarf shrimp who clean everything else and my tank has almost no noticeable algae left. I also reduced feeding significantly which helped.

 

[Essjay]

Cories are not algae eaters so they won't help. Cories are omnivores; they need food with a high proportion of meat/fish/shrimp in them.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

Sometimes you just need to experiment with lighting and fertilizers to reduce algae. Usually it's coming from an imbalance between lighting and fertilizers. Sometimes you need to counterintuitively increase one or the other. I found when I reduced my lighting to around 9 hours a day, and switched to using Aquarium Co Op Easy Green fertilizer, and then added frogbit to soak up nutrients, it solved my algae problem. I added a nerite snail who is great at cleaning the glass and a large population of dwarf shrimp who clean everything else and my tank has almost no noticeable algae left. I also reduced feeding significantly which helped.

thank you very much.
Now i only turn on the light 8 hours a day and about fertilizer i really want to try Easy Green but i can’t get access to it, so in one of Aquarium Co Op video Cory mention Tropicana Fertilizer which is as he said the closest to Easy Green and now i’m using that, really go slow with it.
i also bought frogbit for the tank, the growth of the frogbit is so wild, i just bought a small bag of it and now almost half of my tank is covered in frogbit lol. I love that plant though, love the jungle look it gave the tank.

i’ll try to balance the tank and do more experiment with it.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

Cories are not algae eaters so they won't help. Cories are omnivores; they need food with a high proportion of meat/fish/shrimp in them.

Noted. I’ll leave them in their original tank then.
I just found out that here in Indonesia there’s a local snail that’s bigger than nerite snail and i think i’ll add them to the tank, no much just like 3 of them.
They are called Rabbit Snails here.

 

[Essjay]

We have snails called rabbit snails in the UK as well - though they are also called elephant snails or Sulawesi snails depending on who is selling them. They are Tylomelania species. Are these the same as your rabbit snails?

 

[shaziasadiqah]

We have snails called rabbit snails in the UK as well - though they are also called elephant snails or Sulawesi snails depending on who is selling them. They are Tylomelania species. Are these the same as your rabbit snails?

Yes, that’s the same snails. Will it be a problem to add them to my tank?