Good Janitor Fish, Shrimp And Snails

[Sub-tropic-discus]

Hi there i recentley bought a plec and it makes a hell of a lot of mess the only way at the moment to clean the tank is to phisically put my hand in and clean it, id rather let nature take place and buy a fish or snail, i have bought 7 shrimp and i dont think there taking much notice of the mess

the mess is mainly pleco droppings and wood that has been eaten during the night? and ideas?

 

[Honeythorn]

There isn't anything that will eat fish waste I'm afraid. Physical cleaning is really the only effective way to do it. Either that or get rid of the plec. How big is the tank and what sort of plec is it? Most of them grow pretty huge and make a lot of mess ( as you're now finding out ) Perhaps replace him with a smaller species who on't add so much waste to the tank? A Bristlenose or Bulldog plec if you don't have that type already?

 

[Gill]

There isn't anything that will eat fish waste I'm afraid.

Actually there are fish that eat Detritus - I am sure I have read that Silver Dollars will eat Detritus.
Quick Search gave this article.
Detritus

 

[Scott MacAdam]

If they eat poo and then they poo it back out what is the difference. It would just be like adding any other fish to the tank. Honestly you will always have to do the maintenance to keep the tank tidy and clean. I like shrimp for eating algae and food that other fish missed and it seems you already have some, so thats great. Any bottom feeder (corries, loaches, etc.) will be great to clean up any food that makes it to the bottom, but at the end of the day they are another fish adding to the bioload. Choose something that you like to have in your tank and hopefully it will work out to keep the algae at bay, but there really isn't going to be a fish that will "clean" in the sense that it would have to consume more waste then it puts out.