Fi$hFace

I was wondering what would be the best "algae eater" for my 10 gallon. I currently have 1 F Gold Dust Molly, 1 F Rainbow Platy and 1 M Mickey Mouse Platy. I also have 17 fry Gold Dust Fry. I plan on getting a much larger tank when I move but was wondering what the best kind of algae eater I could get. I've been noticing an increase in algae and want to get a little swimmer to help keep it clean!

What do you think?

Perameters:

pH: 7.6
Ammo: 0
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 5
Temp: 82

My tank is 7 months old.

sirdarksol

About the only algae-eating fish that I would add to that tank would be otos. Unfortunately, they're sensitive little guys, and need very stable water parameters. As those fry grow up, they're going to cause the nitrate to rocket (I'm presuming, BTW, that your nitrate and nitrite listings are reversed. Please correct me if I'm wrong), and will be a problem for the otos.

aecw

I have never had any otos but I have had plecos and snails. but I agree with sirdarksol that otos are probably the best algea eaters. My clown pleco and snails really didn't clean the tank that much. My common pleco was great but that's because he's a MONSTER (who I love dearly!) and is always growing - he live's in a 150 gallon and keeps it spotless!!
An algea scrubber and some elbow grease work the best in a small tank from my personal experience

sirdarksol

Clown plecos are, I believe, of the pekoltia variety of pleco. Pekoltia are carnivores, and thus make really bad algae eaters.

I agree that elbow grease is the best method (short of CO2 in a planted tank to keep the algae from growing in the first place).

11yancazosj

i believe that a very good algae eater is the bristle nose catfish. i have a female who is always cleaning my tank non-stop. (Unless she is sleeping). If you think about getting a bristle nose, you have to consider the fact that when breeding they:

- Babies are in the hundreds
- When the breed again they will only breed in the exact same ornament they did the first time.
- They get VERY, VERY, VERY big over a long period of time.

serissime

Are we talking about bristlenose plecos? I have never heard of a bristlenose catfish. BN plecos get around 6" and won't be happy in a 10g. And they can only breed if you get more than one Until you get your bigger tank, I think I might hold off on an algae eater. You could get otos now if you really wanted to, but it would probably be better to wait until you upgrade and the babies are gone. The otos will have a better chance in a less stocked tank, as well as larger.

11yancazosj

im talking about a catfish

serissime

11yancazosj

check your LFS. guarenteed that you will like them