Advice on a cleaner/scavenger?

[Lady.Demon]

I finally need advice. I tried a few small red crabs but they just are not working in my tank. We had a nice place for them to climb out of the water. Unfortunately, I can't keep them alive.

I have a 55 gal freshwater. I have 3 Angelfish, 4 Glass Catfish, 5 Silver Hatchetfish, 1 African Knife Fish, 1 Dwarf Gourami and 1 Guppy (he earned his place in the tank.) After researching, I realized these may have not been the best combinations, but they actually are working well.

I would like something to help clean debris out of the tank, specifically the gravel. I am open to any suggestions on who would get along in my tank. Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[eco23]

I finally need advice. I tried a few small red crabs but they just are not working in my tank. We had a nice place for them to climb out of the water. Unfortunately, I can't keep them alive.

I have a 55 gal freshwater. I have 3 Angelfish, 4 Glass Catfish, 5 Silver Hatchetfish, 1 African Knife Fish, 1 Dwarf Gourami and 1 Guppy (he earned his place in the tank.) After researching, I realized these may have not been the best combinations, but they actually are working well.

I would like something to help clean debris out of the tank, specifically the gravel. I am open to any suggestions on who would get along in my tank. Thanks in advance for any advice

Welcome to AA. For keeping the gravel clean I'd recommend a small school of Corydoras (5-6 of them), or some shrimp. Amano shrimp are the best cleaners, but Red Cherrys are more fun to look at.

If you've got a fair amount of algae in the tank, I'd HIGHLY recommend Otos. I don't have the words to explain how awesome those little guys are. They work 24 hours a day and clean the glass, gravel, plants...everything.

I'd double check with someone else the compatibility of the Otos. I'm not very familiar with the fish you have currently...Otos are pretty tiny.

 

[Lady.Demon]

Going by the inch/gal rule, I don't really have the room for Corydoras. The shrimp are interesting, I tried a Ghost Shrimp once before. Unfortunately, my fish will eat shrimp. This is the same reason I am afraid to try snails. I thought the crabs could take care of themselves, the tank conditions just don't work for them. The Otos are a new suggestion, I will check that one out.

I had an algae eater once before. It seems my tank doesn't produce enough algae to really keep one of those. It seems to be more debris on the gravel.

 

[adadkins1]

Welcom to AA
I too would have suggested shrimp, but not since you have an angel fish. Other than the other suggestions I don't really know a good debris cleaner. May just have to do gravel vacs more often if you can't find something to clean up.

 

[eco23]

Have you looked into compatibility of Amano shrimp? I know they get pretty big and might be able to hold they're own. A couple members of this site breed and sell them, so you could probably check with them on compatibility. They're member names are HN1 and severum mama.

 

[ShadoeFox]

You might add some cover peices to your decor and try simple ghost shrimp. Not terribly fun to look at in comparison to RCS, but with cover they might avoid getting tagged as quick and aren't as hard to replace. That being said... your probobly better off just vacing more often like adadkins1 suggested. Frankly, I'm not sure oto's would do well with some of the more aggresive guys you have in there.

 

[Lady.Demon]

Does anyone know - would a Black Kuhlii Loach get along in my tank?

 

[ShadoeFox]

Probobly, but they perfer to be in groups (I've got mine in a group of three, though most suggest five. I'm just at the pop-limit of my tank)

 

[Lady.Demon]

I definately vaccuum. I guess it's more an aesthetic thing.

I have lots of plants, caves etc. The Ghost Shrimp had plenty of room to hide. The Angels are full grown and the Knifefish is pretty large, so they picked the Shrimp out. I might end up using my last 5-6 inches for another fish instead of a scavenger...

 

[adadkins1]

I believe that would be the best thing to do. Since you don't really have the room for something like a school of corys and the fish you have are fairly large/agressive, there are not many other options out there. I agree with Shadoe that oto's are not really for eating debris, but mainly for algae. I also have problems with debris even though I don't overfeed and I gravel vac regularly. Guess I will have to start doing it bi-weekly.