Algae

[jmay33]

I've been trying to grow algae in an aquarium for a long time. Finally have some, but it's brown. I'm growing it for my plecostomas to eat. Is it safe? I don't know anything about it.

 

[fort384]

It appears to be diatoms. Your pleco is unlikely to care much about it

 

[jmay33]

It appears to be diatoms. Your pleco is unlikely to care much about it

Aw man! So my pleco won't clean this for me? LolLol

 

[tevinvto]

I know that a school of oto's will clean it.

 

[jmay33]

What about corycats?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Cories don't eat algae. They are scavengers.

 

[Rivercats]

Nerite snails love diatoms. They can't reproduce in freshwater so you won't get a population explosion. They also eat bio-film, green spot algae, and green dust algae. They are nice little additions to any tank IMO.

 

[Despirotomatico]

I have I problem with brown algae and today I went to my lfs and they recomend me algae eater this person told me they use them to clean the fish tanks of the store nut cam take 2 or 3 days

 

[Despirotomatico]

I got 4 chinese algea eater in my tank let see what happen

 

[fort384]

I never advocate adding an animal to a tank to try to address a problem. Nerites might be an exception - they are pretty innocuous. But putting in an algae eater to "solve" an algae problem does nothing to address the root causes of the issue. Aside from that, most algae eating animals are not going to completely rid a tank of algae.

 

[Despirotomatico]

But nerites I just made research and they can go out of your hands and then going to be 2 problems with overpopulation thas why I choose the first option and they are nice and active fish for my tank

 

[vance1013]

But nerites I just made research and they can go out of your hands and then going to be 2 problems with overpopulation thas why I choose the first option and they are nice and active fish for my tank

Nerites wont overrun your tank they only reproduce in brackish water

 

[Despirotomatico]

I understand thats no the way to fix my problem

 

[jmay33]

I was growing the algae specifically for my plecostomas.

 

[Jeremy S.]

I've always heard that Plecos aren't actually algae eaters. Algae doesn't even make up any of most Pleco's diets.

 

[jmay33]

I also feed him shrimp pellets and algae wafers. He lives with my cichlids so he probably picks up some other high protein foods from them. I just wanted him to have some natural food. Should I just stop trying to grow algae for him?

 

[jmay33]

My plecostomas.