kaiofcanada
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Okay...just thought I would share something with everyone who might have wondered.....How do I get rid of this hair or fuzz algae in my planted tank?
Well, I have a solution!!!!!
I got hair algae from adding some frog bit a friend gave me....who just happened to forget to mention that she had a vicious hair algae problem in her own tank. ARGHHHH!!! What a nice friend, right...now I have hair algae in my tank...what to do. By chance, I bought some rosy barbs (for their beauty), a rubber lipped pleco, and a bamboo shrimp. While I was about to finish my purchase a guy who overheard me talking about the hairalgae to one of the store staff mentioned that I might consider a fiddler crab. He had one and described its escapades. So I went back over and picked one out.
HOLY MOLEY! What an amazing cleanup crew!!!!!
Let me detail....
Rosy barbs, unbenounced to me, eat hair algae like spaghetti from your favourite restaurant. They can be a little rough on delicate foliage, but so far no damage. They seek it out and gobble it up. Apparently, they are a bit known for this. One draw back...they will get big, about 6 inches big. So these are for larger tanks to be sure. Advantages: very peaceful community fish, with absolutely gorgeous reflective scales. The females are silver goldish, while the males turn a beautiful rosy red colour when they are in the mood
.
Bamboo Shrimp are filter feeders....they don't eat your algae but they eat the small particles of food and such floating about, which takes care of some excess nutrients that algae might otherwise benefit from. Mine sits on a piece of driftwood near the filter outlet for hours just taking everything from the water.
Rubberlipped Pleco (aka Bulldog Pleco) are amusing little guys. They only get between 4.5-6 inches....considerably smaller than many other plecos. This guy is only 2.5 inches and is on constant duty. A bit shy, he tends to be more active at night. He is on constant algae patrol and has cleaned all the rocks/stones, and hard surfaces in the tank as well as many of the plants. So far, there have been no uprooting of plants and no leaf damage. They are known for being gentle with plant foliage. He loves zuchini and lettuce when he isn't busy cleaning the glass and rocks on the tank.
Fiddler Crab is one of the most amusing new members of my cleanup crew. I picked a female...ones with little claws, not ones with a big fiddle claw. She basically moves about the bottom of the tank picking off algae from the bases of the plants and cleaning the substrate. She is in constant cleaning mode! Nearly compulsive about it. She gets along well with the pleco and doesn't seem to bother the angelfish, who mostly seem to freak her out. These guys do like some terrain as well...so I lower my water level a bit and have a piece of driftwood leaned against the glass to allow her to crawl up when she wants to get out of the water. I keep a cover on at all times, as fiddlers are known escape artists.
I also have 3 Otocinclus who were the only cleaning crew besides my 4 mystery snails. Oto cats are great, but they will not even touch hair algae. They are really great for maintaining a planted tank and do their part, but will not eat every type of algae. Mystery snails are a beautiful addition. I keep the ivory variety which have large ivory shells and pink and gold spectled bodies. They are gentle with all plants, unlike their larger cousin the apple snail. They will not reproduce in your tank unless you assist them in that process. They require 4-6 inches of height above the waterline to crawl up and lay the eggs. They are also not hermaphrodites, and so require male-female pairing. This is difficult as there are no real obvious differences between them.
I just wanted to share with everyone my experiences. There are of course other amazing creatire for algae maintenance such as several varieties of shrimp and most livebearers which include, platys, mollies, american flag fish, guppies, and various plecostemos. To be honest, my angelfish see all shrimp aside from the large bamboo shrimp as delicacies and gobble them up straight away, so I can not keep shrimp in this particular tank.
It would be great of others would add thier favourite algae crew members to this thread for others for future reference.
Well, I have a solution!!!!!
I got hair algae from adding some frog bit a friend gave me....who just happened to forget to mention that she had a vicious hair algae problem in her own tank. ARGHHHH!!! What a nice friend, right...now I have hair algae in my tank...what to do. By chance, I bought some rosy barbs (for their beauty), a rubber lipped pleco, and a bamboo shrimp. While I was about to finish my purchase a guy who overheard me talking about the hairalgae to one of the store staff mentioned that I might consider a fiddler crab. He had one and described its escapades. So I went back over and picked one out.
HOLY MOLEY! What an amazing cleanup crew!!!!!
Let me detail....
Rosy barbs, unbenounced to me, eat hair algae like spaghetti from your favourite restaurant. They can be a little rough on delicate foliage, but so far no damage. They seek it out and gobble it up. Apparently, they are a bit known for this. One draw back...they will get big, about 6 inches big. So these are for larger tanks to be sure. Advantages: very peaceful community fish, with absolutely gorgeous reflective scales. The females are silver goldish, while the males turn a beautiful rosy red colour when they are in the mood
.Bamboo Shrimp are filter feeders....they don't eat your algae but they eat the small particles of food and such floating about, which takes care of some excess nutrients that algae might otherwise benefit from. Mine sits on a piece of driftwood near the filter outlet for hours just taking everything from the water.
Rubberlipped Pleco (aka Bulldog Pleco) are amusing little guys. They only get between 4.5-6 inches....considerably smaller than many other plecos. This guy is only 2.5 inches and is on constant duty. A bit shy, he tends to be more active at night. He is on constant algae patrol and has cleaned all the rocks/stones, and hard surfaces in the tank as well as many of the plants. So far, there have been no uprooting of plants and no leaf damage. They are known for being gentle with plant foliage. He loves zuchini and lettuce when he isn't busy cleaning the glass and rocks on the tank.
Fiddler Crab is one of the most amusing new members of my cleanup crew. I picked a female...ones with little claws, not ones with a big fiddle claw. She basically moves about the bottom of the tank picking off algae from the bases of the plants and cleaning the substrate. She is in constant cleaning mode! Nearly compulsive about it. She gets along well with the pleco and doesn't seem to bother the angelfish, who mostly seem to freak her out. These guys do like some terrain as well...so I lower my water level a bit and have a piece of driftwood leaned against the glass to allow her to crawl up when she wants to get out of the water. I keep a cover on at all times, as fiddlers are known escape artists.
I also have 3 Otocinclus who were the only cleaning crew besides my 4 mystery snails. Oto cats are great, but they will not even touch hair algae. They are really great for maintaining a planted tank and do their part, but will not eat every type of algae. Mystery snails are a beautiful addition. I keep the ivory variety which have large ivory shells and pink and gold spectled bodies. They are gentle with all plants, unlike their larger cousin the apple snail. They will not reproduce in your tank unless you assist them in that process. They require 4-6 inches of height above the waterline to crawl up and lay the eggs. They are also not hermaphrodites, and so require male-female pairing. This is difficult as there are no real obvious differences between them.
I just wanted to share with everyone my experiences. There are of course other amazing creatire for algae maintenance such as several varieties of shrimp and most livebearers which include, platys, mollies, american flag fish, guppies, and various plecostemos. To be honest, my angelfish see all shrimp aside from the large bamboo shrimp as delicacies and gobble them up straight away, so I can not keep shrimp in this particular tank.
It would be great of others would add thier favourite algae crew members to this thread for others for future reference.
