hair algae

[cichlidpersonality]

a huge amount of hair algae has taken a liking to my 2 gigantic amazon swords, i pull it off and of course it just comes back.

i want a little fish/critter that will eat it.

its a 25 gallon very heavily planted tank.

 

[aquamanis]

Hi, the only fish I know that eats hair algae is the florida flagfish. Check it out here:Flag fish

 

[cichlidpersonality]

are they aggressive? one of my LFSs always has them, they are kinda ugly, bt seem to have personality, and might be a good addition of red to my tank.

 

[aquamanis]

Hi, after a bit more reading up on these I,ve come to the conclusion:yes they can be aggressive especially when spawning (like most fish). They can be fin nippers if you have any long finned fish. Also they can destroy plants when there is no algae to eat. The better option seems to be the Amano shrimps. They will eat the hair algae but will not worry about the fish or plants. They are however a bit more fussy with thier water conditions. They will compete with fish for food but only food that sinks to the bottom. I think having one or two of theses shrimps would make a good adition to any FW tank, but not Cichlid tanks.

 

[Alien Anna]

Siamese Algae Eaters eat hair algae - and I've just got two more! Waahey!

 

[jumpman]

My Siamese Algae Eaters don't eat long hair algae, although they seem to eat most other kinds.....mostly the short kind that grows on the glass.

they seem to like flake and frozen food the best though, and feed at the water level with all the other fish!!

 

[Alien Anna]

My Siamese Algae Eaters don't eat long hair algae, although they seem to eat most other kinds.....mostly the short kind that grows on the glass.

they seem to like flake and frozen food the best though, and feed at the water level with all the other fish!!

SAEs will eat fresh, green hair algae - the young and tender shoots, presumably. I don't know anything that will eat the rotten, fetid brown stuff I had growing on my Juwel tank backgrounds before I ripped them out.

 

[BillyBigBananas]

try this link for hair algae eaters

http/www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

There is only one type of SAE that will eat algae and its difficult to get hold of in my experience, most of the fish shops near me only have the false siamese algae eaters.

 

[Alien Anna]

try this link for hair algae eaters

http/www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

There is only one type of SAE that will eat algae and its difficult to get hold of in my experience, most of the fish shops near me only have the false siamese algae eaters.

That's right. The species I have that do eat hair algae are Crossocheilus siamensis aka "Siamese Flying Fox" or "True SAE". However, they are murder to get hold of.