This is a problem I’ve deal with a lot with as a fishkeeper. I’ve tried a wide variety of solutions and I’ll share a few that have worked best.
- Limit the amount of light that the tank receives each day. Aim for about 10-12 hours each day, but definitely no more. A timer for your light really comes in handy here
- I’ve also noticed that natural light especially can cause algae outbreaks. If the tank is an area near a window where it receives a lot of natural light, consider moving it.
- Make sure not to over feed your fish; this can cause algae growth. You should only feed as much food as your fish can eat in 2-3 minutes.
- Another time-consuming but effective option is to manually remove the algae. You’ll have to be careful when dealing with plants, but you can use an unused toothbrush lightly scrape off the algae.
As for fish (and other aquatic life) that will help with controlling algae, you have a lot of options:
- For small aquariums (10-20 gallons), a school of 3-5 Corydoras are common in the hobby, but these fish will mostly scavenge for food scraps and won’t eat too much algae. Instead, I recommend going with a few gold mystery snails. Also consider other aquatic snails cherry shrimp, or Siamese algae eaters. Guppies, mollies, and other livebearers may peck at the algae as well.
- For larger aquariums (20 gallons and up), plecos are the go-to algae eater. They are relatively hardy, are easy to find in stores, and eat almost exclusively algae. Bristlenose plecos are especially good for this purpose and also come in albino and “super red” varieties. Also consider loaches, Siamese algae eaters, aquatic snails, and cherry shrimp.
I hope this helps! Please feel free to reply with any questions/comments.