Looking for Algae Eater

[rookiefishguy]

Hey all,
Still pretty new to the aquarium hobby. Currently have an older styled tall 31 gallon tank, its been up and running for about 5 months now. I have 7 Black Skirt tetras, 6 Glofish Danios and 6 Julii Cories in the tank. It has a mix of 2 large fake plants and then 3 live plants that are grown pretty quickly (two of them are starting to brown a bit though).

The reason for the post is I'm looking to get some sort of fish (or not fish) that will eat the algae developing in the tank. If you look in the pictures,I'm starting to see alot of brown algae forming on the glass and the back wall of the tank. I have the light bar set to the lowest setting and its no where near a window. I've started to reduce the time that the light is on which seems to have helped, but I would still like to add another member to the aquarium to help out.

I wanted to know what are my options (that will play nice with the fish I have and the plants). I've had plecos before but I worry about it getting to big for this tank since its pretty stocked up. Any information would be helpful!

 

[rookiefishguy]

Also as a note! flow in the water is pretty strong since the pump I have used to be used for a saltwater tank, so dont want to get anything that would hate a current.

 

[Wills]

So the best thing to do with algae is manual removal and starve it by using fast growing plants. Something like Hygrophila Siamensis '53b', Limnophila Sessiflora or Cardamine Lyrata are all great candidates

If you want something just to help out a little you should check out Amano Shrimp.

Wills

 

[rookiefishguy]

Yes! I definitely want to replace the fake plants with live ones, just needed the big ones in order to give the fish some shelter early on.

I dont know much about Amano shrimp, would I have any problems with them if the current in the water is high? or if my fish get a little hungry with them? Any must know things for a beginner?

Thanks

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yep, more plants. Wills made good suggestions. Temple plant is another good one; any of the cabombas or ambulias, floaters such as dwarf lily, amazon frogbit, or water lettuce will help starve out algae.

Amano shrimp won't be bothered by your fish or current. About 30 of them would help keep your tank clean. Five or ten panda garra would work wonders on that brown algae, too.

But you should know that algae is not your enemy. It doesn't look great on the walls, but all healthy tanks will have some, sometimes quite a lot, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. We all have to scrape the glass now and then. Best tool for the job, in my opinion, is an old credit card.

 

[Wills]

No I have pretty high flow in my tank and if anything they have gotten more active since I added a powerhead. They are pretty easy to accommodate, they do shed quite a bit though so dont be surprised if you see the odd shrimp shell in there

Wills

 

[Retired Viking]

Anacharis is another good plant and would replace you tall plastic plant nicely, nerites snails is another good thing to have in your tank, I have them in all my tanks and they do a good job cleaning the glass.

 

[AtomicFish]

Hmm the only Pleco I can think of that won’t get really big is the Bristlenose. Also Otos are supposed to be really good if you can provide enough food to keep it alive and have enough room for more than one. But like what was said before some algae is a sign of a healthy tank.

 

[hansgruber7]

The Chinese Algae Eater is pretty good in experience at this sort of thing.

 

[itiwhetu]

The Chinese Algae Eater is pretty good in experience at this sort of thing.

Maybe a little to boisterous for this tank.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The Chinese Algae Eater is pretty good in experience at this sort of thing.

Oh, I can't recommend CAEs. They are pretty, especially the gold ones, and decent algae eaters when they're little. But when they get older they quit eating algae and get really mean, even killing other fish.

 

[hansgruber7]

Yes, true. They are quite boisterous and I had to get rid of mine when he got older for attacking my other fish. He did such a great job with algae I was sorry to see him go. I thought it was just him. Didn't realize they may all be like that.

 

[itiwhetu]

Yes, true. They are quite boisterous and I had to get rid of mine when he got older for attacking my other fish. He did such a great job with algae I was sorry to see him go. I thought it was just him. Didn't realize they may all be like that.

They all seem to have a personality disorder

 

[FishFinatic77]

I would get some more live plants. You could put in some floating plants like salvinia or frogbit. You could also add a few nerite snails. They don't breed in freshwater, so they wouldn't overpopulate your tank.

 

[AtomicFish]

I am told the Marimo ball can also help. I have one in my current tank the 10 gallon.