African cichlid tankmates

[BEANS]

Since I started planting my cichlid tank I have noticed a little bit of green (fuzzy looking) algae developing on my sand. Just in spots and not much, sometimes I have to look twice to even see it but I know its there. I was wondering what fish would be best to live along with my african cichlids and eat this algae? Also would the fine sand be a problem for getting a fish to eat the algae off of it?

My cichlids don't seem too aggresSive just territorial, certain ones sit in the same rock spaces i made for them and chase some others out from time to time but never just attack each other.

THANKS

Sorry I just realized that there is a cichlid topic that this post should have gone in to.

 

[SWerner13]

Medium sized pleco's can hold there own. One that gets to at least 6". Are your cichlids full grown already? As long as your pleco has a hollow log type hiding place to call they're own they should be fine. I don't have a ton of experience with pleco's so I couldn't tell you exactly what kind to get. Also maybe a large snail (one the cichlids can't fit in there mouth would help). You could also just lessen your light time a bit. Thats what I do with my tank.

 

[Purrbox]

Moved to Cichlid Discussion.

 

[missileman]

Be carefull what Pleco you get as alot of the small to medium sized plecos are not effective algae eaters.
Bristlenose plecos probably are the best smaller pleco for eating algae.
If you do get one their diet does need to be suplimented with wafers and a mixture of veggies (my african cichlids love the veggies also)
I currently have a couple of chinese algae eaters in my cichlid tank and they do a pretty good job.

 

[BEANS]

Hey thanks guys. My cichlids are still small, I would say around 1to3 inch range. I also have a fahaka puffer (3inch) in there with them. I was thinking some sort of pleco, Ill check and see if my LFS has that one your talking about.​

thx

Hey missleman what kind of veggies? cukes?​

 

[missileman]

Hey thanks guys. My cichlids are still small, I would say around 1to3 inch range. I also have a fahaka puffer (3inch) in there with them. I was thinking some sort of pleco, Ill check and see if my LFS has that one your talking about.​

thx​

Hey missleman what kind of veggies? cukes?​

Cukes didn't go over well with mine.
Zucchini and peas (skin removed) go over very well.
Butternut squash is another hit but took a little while before they figured out they like it.