Snails to eat algae

[Smudgeboss]

Hi guys, I have a 10 gal tank with 5 gold skirted Tetras and 1 clown pleco. Pleco was put in to keep down the algae. He isn't doing it. We cut down on what we are feeding the fish but he still doesn't go for the algae. What is my best solution a snail? What ones feed on algae? I am concerned about adding an otocynclus because of getting too many fish in my size of tank. Will one snail breed? Are they hermophrodites? I don'want 5,000,000 snails in there.

thanks for your advice.

Smudgeboss

 

[joannde]

Hi

Do you know what kind of pleco you have ? if its a common it will outgrow your tank. Many plecos actually eat off of wood, rather than algae. We'd need to know what species you have to determine if yours will eat algae.

Mystery snails are nice and will keep some algaes in check. They need both a male and a female to lay viable eggs; plus the eggs are laid at the surface of the water and are pink so they are easy to find and remove.

 

[Smudgeboss]

My Pleco is a Clown Pleco -- I got it cuz a couple of common plecos did grow too big. But he don't eat algae like I want and he is still growing big across though not long

 

[zenkatydid]

a clown pleco will still get too big for your tank imo. in addition, clown plecos are terrible algae eaters. return him to the shop, and either get some otos (if your tank is stable - they are quite sensitive, but are only small) or some snails. mystery snails are not hermaphroditic, so you should be safe with those - don't get pond snails or mts, they will multiply out the wazoo.