tighidden

I was thinking about starting a tank with some tiger barbs and wanted to get an algea eater. I looked at a compatibility fish on one site and it said they were not compatible, but I was wondering if anyone has tried it or not.

jsalemi

What size thank? Tiger barbs can be semi-aggressive, and are notorious fin nippers, and they may prey on a fish as small as an oto. If the tank is big enough (20g or more), you could get a bristle-nose or other small (4" average size) catfish to take care of the algae.

tighidden

yup its a twenty gallon, but Im not really sure about what other 4" catfish there are

Barbrella

You could get one Ancistrus, as jsalemi suggested.

But you must make sure it has caves and driftwood and it must be fed if no algae is present.

I would not put tiny defenseless fish like otos in with tiger barbs.

tighidden

how about yoyo loaches or a candy loach

Barbrella

Yoyo loaches should be kept in groups and since they grow to 5 or 6", you can't have them in a 20 gal.

0morrokh

To my knowledge loaches don't eat algae.

A Bristlenose sounds like a good fish for your tank, although it can be hard to find them in stores.

tighidden

yea I know I think I'm just ganna go ahead and get the bristlenose. I just sorta thought it was a little strange looking haha. I mean unless theirs any more suggestions on anyother algae eaters

0morrokh

Well if you don't like BN's don't feel like you have to get one. An algae eater isn't a necessity. But if you want one, I personally think they're really cool. Any other small Pleco would work, but would probably be more expensive/hard to find. Check out www.planetcatfish.com for catfish info.

COBettaCouple

Bristlenoses are pretty good plecos, especially if you find the high-finned variety. A few otos could work too, but they'd be much more timid of the barbs than a BN.

0morrokh is right, Planet Catfish is a top site for detailed information on the thousands of catfish species and you don't really need an algae eater if you don't mind cleaning algae by hand. We don't get an overwhelming amount and can usually just wipe it off the sides of the tanks.

armadillo

Yeah, I've never really found algae that big of a deal to wipe off myself (aside from hair algae. That really takes over your tank). I tend to forget until I really want to take this fab picture and the algae's in the way, LOL.

jsalemi

For that matter, most snails are also algae eaters, so you could get a Mystery Snail and let it go to town.

Neil

My farlowella works wonders on the glass and other objects.