What fish for algae cleanup etc?

[Tiffi]

Hi,
I was wondering which kind of fish/catfish I could put in my 70g tank in about a month. I need something to eat algae and other trash .

Before I always had the caridina japonica (Amano/Algae shrimp) which did superb!! But they seem to be difficult to get in the states otherwise I would swear on that 8) !

 

[Tiffi]

oh yeah,
and I have many plants in the tank, which I would hate to be eaten up!

 

[mr86mister]

ummm...i would say, otocinclus, clown pleco...they stay small i'm sure you dont want a 1 foot pleco in your tank

 

[Tiffi]

No, that would be no good.
I've heard though, that otocinclus get to the plants if there are no algae they can eat. Is that true?

 

[Meredith]

I have three otos and I have never seen them eat my plants. I have no algae in my tanks so I supplement with algae tabs and veggies.

 

[greenmaji]

I would not recommend someone buy fish for controlling algae.. if its a backup plan then sure.. but keeping good water chemistry and maintaince will control algae far better then any fish..

 

[Tiffi]

I'm sorry, but I don't want to buy an otto just for the algae (which I don't have so far and hopefully never will) :? .
My husband wants something like a catfish, plus I was looking for something to prevent algae from coming through .
I have biotechnological education and know that it would be better to prevent algae in other ways, than to wait till it grows and then wait till something eats it.

 

[Tiffi]

@Meredith
Do you use spirulina tabs? What other veggies besides cucumber would be good? Do otos need wood?

 

[greenmaji]

Tiffi.. its just general advice.. If you had your biotech creds. in your sig. I would have withheld..
veggies include right about any greens you can think of..

 

[Tiffi]

Thank you, Greenmaji, for the advise.
I just want my fish to be happy and alive like everybody. I think we might have missunderstood each others intentions. Thank you very much, though !

 

[squealor]

I recently added a few otos to my tank and haven't noticed them eating the plants (yet), although the guy at the store said they can. He also said that if you feed them veggies it'll help.
If you want my opinion, I think that they are now my favorite fish!!! I love to watch them and boy, do they like to eat. Very busy fish!