The quest for the best algae eater

Hi I have had. Butterfly pleco's, Bristlenose, Pleco, chinese algae eater, golden apple snails.

And still im searching for the best algae eater. What fish or snail can claim this title?

I found that the chinese algae eater did the best job untill it started getting bigger. then it started sucking to my fish and killing them.

with al the others i still get algae???

What to do?

 

i'm not sure what is the best but pleco's are blacklisted..

 

Dwarf suckermouth catfish. Ottocinclus. Hands down, you will not find a better algae eater relative to size - these things are incredible. I keep ONE in my 70L and I have to constantly find food. Never clean glass and my plants leaves are all squeaky clean and photosynthesising nicely!

 

pleco's blacklisted???? did you mean plecostumus??

 

Nick he has it wrong - the common pleco will be going on the new black list which will become law end of the year....

They dont actually eat algea. The butterfly "pleco" is actually a type of loach that eats the micro-inverts that lives in the algea.

And avoid chineses algae eaters at all costs - there are large number of threads dealing with why - search the forum :idea:

 

why do they want to blacklist the pleco??

 

they are highly invasive

 

There is a HUGE wealth of information on TASA at the moment on algae eaters... just search it. We have all come to the common agreement that the Siamese Algae eater and the Otto's are the best.

 

I have a few Siamese Algae eaters and they are really doing a great job. I also had a algae problem in my tank and after I added the SAE, the problem is almost gone.

 

my airwolves do the trick

 

Plecos are not black listed and when plecostomus become black listed, it will not be ALL...

this is why scientific names are so important...The butterfly plec is a common name for the L168 Plec - a plec that is VERY efficient in ridding a tank of algae...

In my experience and from the fish I have in my tanks - L168 Butterfly plec as well as Panaque Maccus are very good algae eaters...

It is important to know that a single type of fish will not consume all the different forms of algae that can sprout out in a tank so a combination is usually the best solution.

It is also important to know that once the fish rid all the algae you will have to provide them with daily feedings of fresh algae or an acceptable alternative...

 

Dolphin - most of the users that post here "butterfly" pleco = hillstream loaches

 

I have a combination of Otocinclus, SAE and Sturisoma in my tank!

The Sturisoma is great at chowing heavy algae, on a par with young CAE, and doesn't suck on the sides of fish when bigger...

The main problem with Sturisoma is that they grow upto 11" (26cm+), and they cost rather a lot!! Although, considering the number of Ottos I have been through trying to get the 7 I currently have, and I think the Sturisoma works out cheaper??

Have had several Hillstream loaches, but again, they can be difficult to acclimatise, and don't do well in slow water tanks!! They like a good curent and very well oxygenated water!!

Hope that helps, but as already mentioned, these subjects have been endlessly tackled in other threads, so do some searching!!

Cheers
G!

 

I use 7 nerite snails to keep the algae under control they do such a good job that I haven't had to buy a window cleaner its been spotless since I've added them. But adding filter floss to the sump as also made the water spotless. Nerites in my opinion are the best snails u can get for a freshwater tank. The will not eat or damage the plants. The grow to about 3 or 4 cm max the live in fresh,brackish,marine water and the thing is they can only breed in marine or brackish water so u never have to worry about them breading in freshwater and they have abs stunning shells zerba, leoperd ones look good just google them. They are very hardy unlike the oto u just need to keep ur water on the alkaline side they don't do well with acidic water

 

would the nerites sort out the green spot algae im being plagued with? i gota get my sponge out again this weekend

 

My nerites cleaned up all the green algae on the glass and the plants the tank has never looked better since I have added them. I mean to the point of never ever cleaning the glass myself its totally clear

 

In this case Dolphin i think Henk is more on target as I bought the fish as butterfly pleco but hillstream loache seems to be the one I googlet it after Henk made his comment. Im adding aq pic, it looks like this...

Thanks for everyones replies it realy helps. I realise there is much more matterial on the subject but i got exactly what i wanted from this thread so its all good.

Dolpin can you get - L168 Butterfly plec? I would love to get one.

Ill try SAE and Otocinclus. If I can get Otocinclus havent seen them around.

Sturisoma is a bit pricey...

Snyper564 > I wanna try nerite snails, but have never seen them at any LFS???? Where can i get some?

Thanks again this realy helped.

Here is the pic of the butterfly pleco???

 

.... and illegal

 

lol if its to good to be true . . .

 

Dont all inverts fall onto the black list which means that all snails nerites, ramshorn, mts, apple snail, mystery snail are all included.

Im sorry i have just looked at the blacklist i dont see it anywhere pls refer to the part of the list where the snail is listed if it is... well then forum rules apply and no more talk about them.