Australian algae eaters?

[TheCrazyFishLady]

I have finally gotten the algae problem I was expecting from my halide lights and no CO2. I'm going to do a yeast reactor, but I would also like to keep some algae eaters in there. It's a rainbow/danio tank and I want to keep it in that general region. Australia-South east Asia. I hate mixing fish from drastically different fish. I know otos do a great job and they are super cute... but they are from South America.

I was thinking about dwarf chain loaches. Would they eat the algae, I know they eat algae wafers.

 

[toddnbecka]

Loaches don't eat algae. The nest fish for that for most community tanks are bristlenose pleco's, unfortunately also from SA. Nerite snails are also very effective alga eaters.

 

[alLexX]

i think amano shrimp are frome japan,but im horrible with geography so i have no idea how close/far that is

 

[hippy guy]

Get a borneo algea eater... there silly looking. Or some cherry or red crystal shrimp. Amanos are also good. And these little guys have almost no bioload added to the tank..

 

[hippy guy]

Woops, missed the austrailian part, my badd

 

[toddnbecka]

Amano shrimp are useless for cleaning up algae.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Borneo is close enough. Did you mean Borneo sucker? Gastromyzon borneensis? That's the only kind of Borneo sucker I could find.

And amano shrimp kind of freak me out... all shrimp scare me. My boyfriend has had some crawl out of the tank and I would probably pass out if I saw one scurry out or a dead one lieing there...

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

And apparently the Borneo sucker is just a butterfly loaches. They eat algae?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Just a suggestion... but have you tried to split your photoperiod? Halides are pretty powerful lights. I've had great success on my non injected tanks with running 4 on, 4 off, 4 on. Not a fish suggestion, but just a thought to avoid having to get a fish just to clean up algae.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

That's a good idea. Thank you. I will try that.

I would still like to have some bottom dwellers. I might go for butterfly loaches. They are neat little fish and if I remember correctly I can get they ordered at my favorite LFS for 2-3$.

 

[hippy guy]

Yeah there fun

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Awesome. I accidentally have a skunk loach in there currently. Never really seen him. He came in with the bag of danios, for whatever reason.

I'll go order some of these guys tomorrow. How many should I get?

 

[hippy guy]

Umm I believe they get about 4 inches or so...

 

[hippy guy]

Soo... depending on tank size a few

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

I have a 55g. Apparently my boyfriend has been trying to order them, but the suppliers have been out... lovely. Any other loach that likes algae? Thank you by the way.

 

[hippy guy]

Not that I know of.. but as far as loaches my favorite is the kuhli loach. There really cool, when I see them haha

 

[hippy guy]

My favortie cleaners are dwarf shrimp though. I have red cherrys, but there all all sorts of mini shrimps that loove cleaning up your tank

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

They kind of scare me. My parents are big in to crawfish and that gets me on to the verge of passing out. Not really a fan of them. I get ghost shrimp every now and then for my pearl fighter, but even then I'm too scared to even come close to the bag. It's awful.

 

[hippy guy]

Haha, there not thaat bad. I just got a vampire shrimp, they get about 6 inches, but there big babies (filter feeders) I love shrimps, plus they have almost no bioload

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

A six inch shrimp.... I just looked up pictures of that. Anything that resembles a bug puts me almost in a panic attack. You should see me when I find a bug crawling around in my apartment. I'm sure my neighbors here me screaming. haha