treehugr

Hello, we're looking for an algae eater that would do well in a 14-gallon tank. Any suggestions? The LFS suggested Ottos, but I've heard they die easy.

Thanks.

Blub

COBettaCouple

A bristlenose pleco might work in your tank.

treehugr

Hmm, I didn't even think of snails or shrimp - I will look into those. Do they carry the same bioload as fish -- do I have to figure them into the tank capacity?

treehugr

Thanks. I did a quick online search and it seems they might be a little too big for my 14 gallon tank. Seems they get from 4.5 to 6 inches. Says minimum tank capacity is 30 gallon.

Blub

treehugr

Do the shrimp and snails carry the same bioload as fish do?

Blub

sirdarksol

Depending on the snail, they can actually contribute a lot.
Amano shrimp (and all of their kin, like the cherry reds) are decent algae eaters.

The important thing to note is that the best way to deal with algae is to keep up on the water changes. Lowering the amount of nitrates in the tank will minimize the algae. This will make it easier for any shrimp/snails to deal with what algae you have.

If you have a very stable chemistry in your tank, you could get a small cleaning crew of two or three otos. However, they do not deal well with nitrates, so you need to think carefully if your nitrate levels remain at 10ppm or less at all times. If they don't, otos wouldn't do well (I know this from experience.)

Another good way of dealing with algae is including live plants, preferably relatively fast growing ones. Fast growing plants will compete with algae for available nutrients, and will likely win.

King_Snuggles

Oto's are great algy eaters and stay small. Plus they are cheap

monkeyfish

i recently got 2 otos and noticed much less algae just a few weeks after i got them. i've had them for a few months now and they are great!

treehugr

Okay, I am at my wit's end. If it wasn't for the fish that are still alive, I would sell this tank and forget about having an aquarium.

We got this tank (our first) in December and have been battling the water since January. We do 10-20% water changes every week and we test the water (which is fine). I thought maybe it was the driftwood so I took that out - no change. I thought it might be the coral rock, took that out - no change. Thought it might be the food, changed that - still no change.

What the heck could this be? Could the pump be malfunctioning? It seems to be running okay. It's a new tank that we just set up in December.

I can't imagine what the heck the problem is.

Austin {Aquarist}

some people have a really hard time keeping ottos and some don't. I am a newbie aquarist and I have 5 ottos in my 25 gallon and they are doing fine. I am also ashamed to say that lately I have been neglecting my water change responsibilities but hey are still doing great. They are very easy to feed too. I give them a diet of cucumber one night then an algae wafer the next then a cucumber the next night etc etc...Your LFS may have said they are hard to keep but I highly recommend them :]

PS I have attached a photo of my biggest otto :]] he is almost an inch and a half

Attached Images

Aquariums 4-28-08 008.jpg (367.2 KB, 25 views)

Allie

Otos work great from me too. They seem pretty hardy to me. You need 3 or more of them for them to be comfortable. They swim in a group sometimes it is so cute.
My 2 bigs ones are 2 years old and huge 2-2.5", my other is half their size.

treehugr

Hi all, got back from vacation this week and, now that our algae bloom problem is gone (thank God!), we are planning to get those new tank mates. It sounds like you're all in agreement that ottos are the best choice for our small tank? Though, 2.5 inches seems a little big for a 14g tank (especially three ottos) - how large do they get?

If I get 3 ottos, does that mean I can't get any more Red Serpae Tetras? We were planning on getting maybe 2 more to make the total Serpae 5. Though, I have to say, they seem okay with just the 3 of them now (they're not as shy as they were when we first got them...now they don't hide or dart around).

If I get the 3 ottos, should I still get a shrimp or snail? Or, is it one or the other (ottos OR shrimp)?

The guy at our LFS sold us 2 Chinese Algae Eaters a couple of weeks ago (a few days before our vacation) but both have since died . Not sure what happened there - maybe they were just sickly when we got them (they were the last two in the LFS tank).

joy613

Chinese algae eaters get big and lazy, they also like the slime coat of other fish.

Fish Addict

Well, from your posts, I would say my best advice is to... NOT LISTEN TO THE LFS! Chinese algae eaters aren't very good, since they don't do much for the algae, and attack the other fish!

treehugr

Yeah, we won't be getting any more CAE. Looking into the ottos now. Still curious as to how many I should get and if we should also get shrimp.

treehugr

Hmm, now I'm wondering if Ottos ARE the right remedy. We don't have that much soft algae growing on surfaces. Two ottos would clean up the tank in no time but I'm afraid they would starve after that. They also appear to be very sensitive to water quality, meds and bacteria.

Problems with Keeping Ottos Alive: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/otto.htm#problem

Allie

You can compensate with algae wafers and bottom feeder food.

treehugr

Came across this Website during my algae-eater searches; they have some cool shrimp on here!...

http://www.azgardens.com/index.php

treehugr

I'm guessing the shrimp eat debris from the gravel as well as the algae but, what do the snails eat if there is no algae?

Also, what about crayfish? Those are pretty cool...do they keep the gravel clean? Are they aggressive toward the fish in the tank or are they mainly scavengers?

Fish Addict

Yeah, I just got 4 ottos and they're great! Not only do they eat algae really well, but they look really cool too!

I think it depends on how much algae you have, and if you think you will have it for a while. I currently have 4 ottos and 1-2 mystery snails, and my tank barely has any algae, but everyone is looking healthy and happy!

And, about the crayfish, I don't think that they eat algae. I do know that that can eat small fish, and hack up plants, so I'd be a bit wary of those...
Also, I think either way you should be putting in some vegetable matter whether its algae wafers, actual veggies, etc. and the shrimp/ottos can eat that just as well...

treehugr

Yeah, I was reading more posts about the crayfish and decided against that. Some people said their cray wasn't aggressive but others said they would eat anything they could catch so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

COBettaCouple

They're probably too small for your tank, but cherry shrimp are incredible little cleaners. I put a cave covered in algae in their tank this morning, it was clean in a few hours. They always clean whatever I put in their tank quick.

sirdarksol

The different shrimp of the caridina species (this includes Amano, cherry, and several others, including one that changes color to match its surroundings. I believe that Dino has a neon green variety, even) are up to handling any size tank (as long as the fish don't actively hunt them down and eat them). You just have to add enough to the tank. Takeshi Amano uses them to keep his tanks clean, and he's got some absolutely huge tanks.

treehugr

We only have a 14g tank with 1 Blue Dwarf Gourami and 3 Red Serpae Tetra. How small are the Cherry shrimp? I can't imagine that they would be too small for our tank.

What do they eat once the algae is gone? We don't have a lot of algae - just some of that thin blackish brown stuff on the fake plants (not even sure the shrimp could get at that) but I would like something that could keep the gravel clean.

Would we have to quarantine the shrimp before putting them in the tank? If so I will have to purchase a smaller tank system to use for that as we only have this one tank plus an acrylic container that we use as a temporary holding tank when we need to remove our fish.

COBettaCouple

Cherry shrimp only get to about an inch or so. They'd need hiding places and the only thing that might stop them from working out in your tank is if your fish decided they were snacks.

sirdarksol

BettaCouple's right. They need hiding places, as well as places to perch on. I use driftwood with Java moss tied to it.
I don't think that any of your fish would actively hunt the shrimp down, but they might make snacks of those that get too close. Shrimp are smart enough to hide if their tankmates are aggressive. If you had a dwarf puffer, for example, it would seek out each and every shrimp and eat them, so that wouldn't work. I think your fish won't be a huge problem, though.

treehugr

We don't have any aggressive fish. A Dwarf Blue Gourami and 3 Red Serpae Tetra. We were going to pick up another 2-3 Serpae's to increase the size of the shoal but, honestly, those 3 seem to be doing fine with their little group.

I don't think we'll be getting any more fish until we get a bigger tank (which won't happen until later this year) because I'm afraid to upset the balance we have now. All of our fish are healthy and the green water battle is finally over (thank God) so I'm afraid to add any new fish to the mix as I don't have a QT (I'll probably use this 14g tank as the QT once we got a larger tank). I'm actually even nervous to add the shrimp and or snails because they could bring something into the tank too. But, if I want to stay ahead of the algae, I suppose I have to have some kind of algae eater in there.