Which "cleaners" eat what?

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trennamw said:
Thank you for all that Angel! That's exactly the sort of summary I was looking for. And thanks especially for understanding that I'm not trying to avoid cleaning, I'm just really curious.

I do have one question - does anyone eat diatoms? Especially a someone a betta might be ok with, at least for a little while? His tank is super yucky with brown algae, I know everyone said leave it and it'll go away ... It did completely flake off the ornaments (where it first grew) but now it's going gangbusters on the glass. I keep reading "once the silica is gone" but I used sand in there, and I don't know much about much bit it seems to me there'd be tons of silica in sand.

Betta Bob, in his little tank, does seem more peaceful than his predecessor who bit the snail's antennae off. Also that pair was in a 1 gallon back before I knew better. I'm very tempted to drop my smaller snail in there under close supervision for a little while, then put him back in the big tank when it's cleaner. Those snails are definitely more "dirty" than a betta, I learned that the hard way.
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I currently have diatoms in a tank with nerites, and in my case, they don't like to eat it. I had ottos in one tank who gorged on it (and typically are fine a betta), but I am not sure if that always happens. The nerites don't touch the diatoms on the plants or decor. I am actually going to put a rubberlip pleco in there I think (or trade out a bnp from a different tank), but whatever I put in there will be for looks and my enjoyment and I expect to do a lot of supplemental feeding.
Also, bettas generally do not play well with mystery snails in the long term. You will of course hear lots of people tell you that it worked for them, and it can work. But, bettas tend to pester the mystery snails and bite off their optical stocks and antennae in many cases. The bonus of nerites is that they pretty much stay in their shell, thus exhibiting a less tempting target for the betta (or any other potentially nippy fish).
 
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My only betta male is housed in a 10 gallon with both ramshorn snails and otos. He has not bothered the snails (4+ months) but the otos are still new so yet to tell.
 
venymae said:
My only betta male is housed in a 10 gallon with both ramshorn snails and otos. He has not bothered the snails (4+ months) but the otos are still new so yet to tell.
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Ramhorns or pond snails are similar to nerites in that they do not have as much hanging out of their shells as mystery snails do. they usually do fine with bettas. Some bettas will freak out and try to attack them, but it doesn't get very far typically. :p
 
Well, I do accidentally have a few pond snails in with the Betta, I guess I'll quit yanking them out. Also he's got a touch of salt in his water (yes I know, but I've tried it without and he's just not as happy) and I understand the Nerites do better with that.

Also his tank is so small (3 gallon) I'm hesitant to crowd him, so it may just be more cleaning once it builds up to the point my 4 year old tells me Bob is sad because his room is dirty.

Another question: What's the consequence of not having any bottom feeders? I have ended up not liking the stocking I have so far, and what I think would work means I either rehome the 6 Kyathit Danios, or skip the loaches. I'd have no cories, no loaches ... just snails and shrimp (no salt in that tank). It's sand so I do a lot of vacuuming anyway, but part of me also really thinks you *need* someone seriously digging in the substrate to keep things stirred up.
 
There is no requirement to have bottom feeders, you just need to be vigilant with vacuuming leftover food and not over feeding. To keep the sand stirred Malaysian trumpet snails are very useful.
 
How vigilant is enough? I'm being really careful, and it helps that the neons like the algae wafers I'm dropping for the snails, but I'm sure there's at least some food down there. I don't think I can commit to more than one vac session a week. And the thought of food soiling down there really bugs me (more than my stocking scheme looking unbalanced and chaotic).
 
If there's food spoiling down there then the first thing would be to cut down on the amount that you're feeding. I've had lots of tanks without bottom feeders without any problems, and you'll quickly find that many hungry fish will explore every nook and cranny of the tank looking for pieces of food no matter what strata they prefer. I wouldn't worry about it tremendously.
 
Ahhh. That helps. I'm being super careful about food, putting in a tiny bit at once ... If they eat less than I put in I skim the top and then I don't do it again. The tank has had fish for about 10 days, it's 60% stocked. So I'm learning. Betta is easy, I give him his pellets one at a time and I know they never end up on the bottom. I can't see food on the bottom of the tank but I just know it's there, lol. And you're right the fish do look for bits on the bottom.

I think I'll add the tiny loaches and then use the rest of the room for more harlequins and neons, that may accomplish what I'm after. If not I'll swap the danios somehow. This thing with choosing the fish is so hard!! And I'm super picky about visuals yet don't quite know what I'm after. But I want everyone healthy too.

Thanks for all the advice!
 
The only thing I have to add is you have mentioned the store selling you small loaches that are a lot cheaper than Dwarf Chain Loaches. Dwarf chain loaches are one of the smallest loaches that can sometimes be found in stores, most other loaches except Nano loaches such as Burmese Rosy Loaches and Multi Striped Pygmy Loaches grow a lot larger than Dwarf Chain loaches so be very careful and research any loach species before buying it.
 
They're Pygmy multi striped loaches, thanks for prompting me to double check Rivercats! Apparently Portlands LFS has one of the largest fish selections in the country so they've got a few tiny loaches, lucky me! I do love the dwarf chain loaches too, but wow they are pricey.
 
Oh you're local!! Yep The Wet Spot. I'll look at the rosy, that's the color spectrum I'm after anyway.
 
I wouldn't be scared of otos. I inadvertently fish-in cycled with 2 green Cory's and an oto. They all survived just fine. I love the Cory's, they are like little OCD vacuum cleaners. I have sand substrate and I almost never see any bits of anything on the sand. They also were in a tank with a betta for about a 2 week long period until I got a new tank and they didn't seem to mind each other at all.
 
Rivercats said:
You must be going to The Wet Spot which is where I get all my nano fish from. They usually have Burmese Rosy Loaches which I like better. Males color up nicely and females are spotted so it looks like you have two different species. Here's a pic of a male and female Rosey (unfortunately the males color doesn't show well on the pic but they get a deep salmon color).... Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rivercats's Album: 55g Planted- Nano fish - Picture.
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Do you have a suggestion for quantity, in place of 6 dwarf chain loaches? Aqua advisor doesn't have rosy loaches. The bottom also has 2 snails and the glowlight neons like it down there. Tank mates are 12 each glowlight neons and harlequin rasboras, and 6 kyathit danios. Aqua advisor puts me at 99% with 6 dwarf chain loaches which are quite a bit bigger.
 
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