Good bottom feeding fish

Hey
Can anyone tell me what would be the best buy. I want a bottom feeding fish or 2 that will help me keep the bottom of my tank clean (fish doppings and uneaten food). Ive got 8 neon tetras, 1 placo, 8 baloon mollies, 6 gubbys, 7 Guppy fry and 1 baloon molly fry (not hiding anymore ). So anything that wont munch the rest

 

My thoghts

I have always thought that it was the job of the plec to do this?

 

I would get apple snails .. pleco will keep glass clean and get very big very quickly. Franna what size is your tank?

 

60cmx30cmx30cm. but i bought another tank from a friend today (same size) Gonna move the Guppys and fry to the other tank once its ready

 

i agree with donny, snails will do a good job. I dont know about catfish eating droppings though. They normally just eat leftover food or if you buy tablets that are specially meant for bottom feeders(perhaps one of the sponsors can recommend something here)

I normally feed my pleco cucumber

 

ive got prodac nutron staples green for my placo. but all my fish seems to love the stuff

 

Well for fish droppings i know that virtually any crustacean would chow it,try some glass shrimp if available.BUT noting the type and amt of fish you have an adequate filter would take of that(in addition to some plants)not really aware of fish that feed on detris(discus have been known to do that to survive when trapped in pools during the dry season

 

Yer, no fish really 'eat' poo! They will only chow on poo that is still rich in nutrients and not fully digested. My rainbows never fully digest their food, so several of my tetras will come and bite the poo as its being released! Quite gross really!

As for left over food, I would suggest firstly getting some loaches like Khuli's or Horsefaced loaches. These guys continuously forage for bits of grub, particularly the horsefaced!! They are a bit funny to look at, but they soon grow on you! They are one of my favorite fish now! Just be warned that if you have any eggs from a spawn, then the loaches will happily polish them off too! But then, I guess most fish will also fill their boots so to speak when offered high grade caviar!

The other solution is not to feed as much food. Simple really! haha!

Enjoy!
Big G!

 

Hi Franna
I would say try fish like Botia, Cories and other "borrowing" cat fish they don't necessarily eat your poo or your fish's poo:bigsmile: but while looking for food in the substrate whirl up debris and with that, it might end up in the filter where it belongs.

 

i normally follow the 30 second rule with feeding my fish and it really helps

 

id get cories i have two, fred and george, and they are a laugh, they chase each other and play and race to the surface and splash and then swim to the bottom and there is alot of different colours and patterns, i rather like the panda cories myself and the leopard spotted ones though iv only seen them in two petstores. mine are longfinned i think