Which One Will Work For My Tanks?

[ICEEGRL]

I have a few 10 gallons, a 15 gallon, a 29 gallon, and getting a 55 & 60 gallon tanks. (all planted) I have assorted danios, corys, and guppies in them.

I am growing what appears to be every kind of algae known to man in these tanks. I need something that will eat the algae, but not hurt my fish or plants.

I also need it to stay alive in somewhat soft water. It needs to be fairly easy to care for. It also needs to not eat fry and eggs if that is possible.

I found pitbull LDA25 and hypancistrus debilittera L129. Then there are the regular otos. What will work, and how many would I need for the tank sizes listed above?

Thank you for helping. There are so many out there. It is hard to know which kind to get. Also it is hard to find enough info about how well they eat each kind of algae, or what they do to the bio load.

Thanks again

 

[dane261]

get some bn as they as so cute they love algae only small well grow toabout 6 inches

 

[DarkEntity]

Funny my Bristleose Plecs wont touch algae. Plus they are pooping machines so if your filtration isnt up to the job stay away from them.

 

[ICEEGRL]

Isn't that too big for 10g tanks though? How many would you need to keep?
Thanks

The purpose of it is to eat the algae, so I will need one that truely loves assorted algae types. It needs to be a good cleaning machine... as I have lots to feed it.

 

[Alps]

Well if you want a small pleco that is good about algae then get a rubbernose/lip pleco.

1) they don't grow as fast as BN's usually
2) they stay smaller, maximum 4 or 5 inches
3) their pretty good about algae just like BN's
4) Not sure about your ph, but they like water with higher ph than BN's ( 6.5-8 range)

- I just got one for my 10 gallon (he'll outgrow it eventually and I'll put him in a 20), but he hasn't had to eat much algae. If you have algae let them eat it for a couple days before you give him any algae wafers. What algae's do you have?

 

[ryguy]

a bristlenose would work perfectly they are friendly small and eat alot of algea

 

[KathyM]

I found pitbull LDA25 and hypancistrus debilittera L129.

hypancistrus species tend to prefer meatier diets and aren't particularly well known for algae eating. ancistrus species are apparently better for algae eating, but can someone please tell that to poofish and ned who don't touch the stuff?

i've not kept otos personally, but others i know have, and they do a better job of cleaning than any of my plecs have. when you consider how much waste plecs make against how much they eat, it's not really worth getting plecs as tank cleaners, and i say that even though i'm addicted to them.

edited to add: i also wouldn't trust any plec with eggs to be honest, most will scoff them.

 

[matt295]

you might like ottos for a small tank or corys

 

[dwarfgourami]

you might like ottos for a small tank or corys

corys don't eat algae