ManicLamb

Hi all,

I'm slowly building up the stock of fish in my tank, and I've decided that I want something that will help with the algae.

I've got a 180 litre Juwel Rio, which appears to be big enough for one of the smaller pleco varieties (BN, Clown...), or a few Otto's.

I'm quite tempted with a Pleco, however the only thing that slightly concerns me is the 'high waste' factor of the fish. Are the smaller pleco's still massive waste producers?

I've also read on here that you need lots and lots of Otto's to get through the Algae. Second to that, they do seem to be less common in the LFS around here.

At the moment I have 3 Peppered Cories, 2 Platys, and 2 Dwarf Grourami's. In the future I'd also like to get pair of Rams.

Pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Simon

everhart1988

try snail they are very thorough and so much fun to watch. i have 4(3gold inca snails and 1 small black mystery snail)

Nick G

I'd go for a BN Pleco. 180ltrs is plenty big enough, and with regular water changes and good filtration, waste shouldn't be a problem. I have one in my 20gal and he does a great job of cleaning the algae. My suggestion would be to get a BN Pleco and 2 or 3 more Corys, since they like being in groups of 4 or more and you easily have the space. That would make a great clean up crew!

ManicLamb

Thanks guys. Never thought about a snail actually! Might have to check one out.

Do Albino BN Pleco's do a similar algae clean up job?

Nick G

Yep, they're exactly the same species, just a differant colour!

ManicLamb

Just out of interest are there any negative reasons to snails? I.e. Do they destroy things like plants, or are they just keen on algae?

Thanks
Simon

agabr123

that depends very much on what kind of snail you get. apple snails get to the size of a grapefruit. other types of snails reproduce faster than you can think. other than that they're pretty great. i have them in all of my tanks that have algae.

everhart1988

i have gold inca mystery snails and black mystery snails and so far i haven't had any babies they crawl all over eveything but have destroyed uprooted ect. nothing. my snails are almost ayear old and they are all smaller than a ping-pong ball. i have no clue about the apple snails but my mystery snails are great, awesome to watch, and totalyy non-aggressive