fish that clean

[bigmac1878]

what are good fish that clean the tank, but stay small?
i like golden algae eaters, but they apparently become aggressive when older. i don't like plecs as i think they are damn ugly. i have seen some borneo suckers at my lfs recently. they look cool and don't grow too big.
just for the record, i do keep my tank clean, i'm not being lazy, i just think that kind of fish would make the job of cleaning a little bit easier.

TIA

 

[verucaproduce]

Otos are wonderful creatures, but they like established tanks. What are you water params?

 

[bigmac1878]

the tank has been set up for 7 months
ph 7.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 10 ppm
temp 77 f
tank size 18g

 

[verucaproduce]

Sounds like they would do fine in your water. What do you have in there now?

 

[bigmac1878]

male betta
5x white clouds
2x male guppies

 

[Cinder]

Otos are great but only eat brown algae and people often find them hard to keep alive (myself included). The longer you've had your tank up and running the better chance you have of keeping them alive and well.
I would strongly suggest Amano (Japonica) shrimp. They are great at eating algae and are always very busy cleaning up the tank. They are also lots of fun to watch.

 

[bigmac1878]

do the shrimp need to be kept in groups or can they be singular?

 

[LittleNami]

On the subject of shrimp vs otos, I've been seeing them a lot in Nano freshwater tanks. Do shrimp clean off live plants really well too? And do you need to worry about them breeding badly in small tanks? I myself am looking for a new cleaner, I need to get rid of my yo yo loach since he's going to get too big in my 12 gal tank, but I am afraid otos in a group of 3 would be either too scared in that small of a group or get too big for my already probably too overcrowded tank ^^

 

[DarylF2]

Otos are great but only eat brown algae and people often find them hard to keep alive (myself included)

In my experience, Otos do eat green algae. I had a lot of green algae on my plants and rocks in my 38-gallon tank, so I bought 5 Otos and they it cleaned up beautifully in about a week. They didn't damage even my most delicate plants, either!

 

[MarkP]

Chiming in here- I'm newly returned to the hobby, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

You mention concerns about Amano shrimp breeding- From what I've read, the fry will all die in a normal aquarium (Or perhaps the eggs will not hatch)- They appear to require saltwater or at least brackish for that stage of their life.

I have three Amano- They tend to stay hidden in my tank, in fact I beleived I had 1 for a week, and none for about 2-3 days. This is probably a good idea for them, as my wife's baby angels have grown extremely fast. Then, one day, they were all foraging outside their "cave". The area around the shrimp cave is spotless, though!

I also like my SAE's (Or, at least, I'm 90% sure they are true SAE's, seems that a lot of very similiar fish exist). The Siamese Algae Eater is supposed to eat a wide variety of algae, and not get agressive like the Golden or Chinese. Mine appear very playfull and active, and regularly chase each other around the tank, but appear to completely ignore other fish.

I also like snails- My Bridgesii (SP?) snail is one of the coolest "fish" in the tank- I can drop a peice of carrot in the tank and he will sprint for it. They eat the decaying plant matter more so then the algae, but help "clean". Malaysian Trumpet Snails also seem good for cleaning substrate, and I'm kinda half depending on getting a decent population up to help take care of the difficult to vacuum areas between my plants.

 

[tropicfishman]

snails, shrimp, gold nugget plecos only get about 6 inches and look crazy, crabs clean gravel well but thye will eat your slow moving fish, clown loaches are good to, they will eat left over food and eat unwanted sanill eggs

 

[Cinder]

MarkP is correct. From all research it appears that although it is not difficult to get Amano shrimp to lay eggs, it is next to impossible to get the larvae to hatch and survive. Even people that take them from the freshwater and place them in brackish water find it very difficult to raise the young.
The Amano's do eat the algae from all the leaves and I've never had a problem with them damaging the plants in any way.
I suggest you go to petshrimp.com for all your questions about any shrimp.

 

[hc8719]

i was gonna say kissing gourami's devour algae, but any aqua plants as well, and ehh they get a like 12" also