Plecos

[frazoo]

if i were to get any pleco what would be one that would fit in a 10 gal? are they snail eaters?
are they better alge eaters than snails? would they eat my guppies tails if i put them in the same tank?

 

[Ami]

There's a pinned topic at the top of the thread called 'Plecs', you might wanna check it out and then post any queries you still have.

 

[emma12321]

Hi,

The only small algae eater suitable for a 10 gallon is the otocinclus, check out the profile on them on the main page. Otos would be fine with the snails and guppies, but they like to live in groups.

Emma

 

[SirMinion]

Otocinclus are indeed the only plec suitable for 10 gallons but you would need a minimum of three which then leaves very little room for anything else.

No species of plec is suitable for snail control.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yeah i agree as well that oto's are the only fish suitable for a 10gal, there are no plecs that grow small enough for a 10gal and have activity and living requirements that suit such a small space- oto's are sociable fish so i'd also advise you get at least 3, although if your tank is reletavely new i'd go against oto's at all as they can be very difficult fish to properly acclimatise to a tank in the long term and do not tolerate water quality issues that are so common in reletavely new tank set ups at all.
How long has your tank been set up and what is its current fish stocking and your average tank cleaning maintanence regime?

When it comes down to it though, algae is a sign there is an inbalance in the tanks ecosystem-alot of how to deal with algae also depends on what type of algae you have as well. A snail population problem on top of an algae problem indicates there is an excess of nutrients in the tank, wether it is still a current issue or not, most snail population problems arise from over-feeding fish or not keeping up on tank maintanence like substrate cleaning sessions enough- unfortunatly there are no snail eating fish that are small enough for a 10gal, so your best bet would be to find the source of your snail and algae issues and deal with them there .
Snails are scavengers so the best way to deal with them is to eliminate any posible food sources they could survive off, wether they be excess fish food or muck in the tank, dying/unhealthy plants or algae etc etc.