ricktavious

In Spazz's tank, there is starting to be some algae growth on the side of the glass and subtrate. It irritates me for some reason.......first, what causes it? Too much light, not enough light...something else?

Next, what types of fish can be put into Spazz's tank without disturbing her? How much algae would the fish need to eat? Thanks for any tips!

Wolfgang8810

what color algae is it? a picture would help. but i have a panda cary in with my betta and they get along great.

ricktavious

Some brown (substrate and a couple decorations) some green (glass).

Wolfgang8810

counds like a cory would be ok. how big is the tank? maybe a small CAE or some Ottos?

ricktavious

It's a 5 gallon tank.

BTW, thanks for your help!

Barbrella

If you want something to eat algae, I would go with Otos. They stay small and are very inoffensive.

COBettaCouple

light and/or nutrients can cause algae. otos or starving the algae (less light and/or live plants to take nutrients) can get rid of it or you can wipe it off using an algae magnet or even a paper towel.

ricktavious

I use a paper towel cause I'm cool like that....no scents or dyes though!

Will try more live plants and keep the light on less to keep it down a bit. Might be better than introducing Spazz to a new fish.

COBettaCouple

yea, that's what we do with algae whenever it pops up in any of the betta tanks here.

ricktavious

But....I did just do an image search on otos. They are really cute! But, for some reason I don't think I'd feel right putting an oto in with Spazz AFTER she has her established territory, patters, etc.

COBettaCouple

right.. after doing the quarantine on the otos - you'd have to take her out, rearrange everything, acclimate the otos and let them swim around a bit, then acclimate her back and hope she takes to them. some female bettas kill any 'intruders', even otos.

armadillo

Yes, supposedly otos and corys are reasonably safe with bettas, and it really works out in one of my tank, but it was a total disaster in another tank. The female betta totally went to destroy the pygmy corys I'd put in there. You'll need to be vigilant and have a back-up plan.

chickadee

Another little known fact is that Cories are not algae eating fish. They will not touch the stuff. If you want algae eaters in with a Betta you can have two choices. Otos are for small tanks like 5 gallons or so (no more than 2 otos in a 5 gallon tank) and for a 10 gallon you can have one of the small plecos: I have the following and they are all fine: Queen Arabesque, Clown Pleco, and Gypsy King Tiger Pleco (my very favorite is the Clown Pleco and the smallest). They are not so touchy as the Otos in health but they are more tempermental as far as eating the algae. You have to fail to feed them unless they will eat the algae or they will NOT eat it and only eat what you feed them.

Rose

armadillo

Yep, corys won't touch your algae. They're substrate cleaners, though.

Clown plecos and arabesques eat algae? I thought only bristlenose and common plecos ate them.

COBettaCouple

yea, there are a handful of dwarf plecos that are algae eaters.

armadillo

I think only two plecos will eat algae. At least that's what I'd read. The others will suck the glass, but won't scrape the algae off. That's what I read on planet catfish anyways, but who knows. There's so many opinions around.

COBettaCouple

i can't find the list i'd made of all the algae-eating dwarf plecos. i think there are 4 or 5 total out of every pleco in the entire list, but if i remember right, they're not easily found in most chain stores and would probably require finding a pleco breeder.. seems easier to find a dwarf pleco that is wood-eating.

armadillo

Oh I'd definitely be really interested if you could find it. I'd have loved a fancy algae eating dwarf pleco, but I always assumed I couldn't.

COBettaCouple

i wish i could, but i've lost the tablet that I'd made that list on. I'll have to go through all the plecos again sometime and re-make the list.