algae eater. . .recommendations welcome

[DiverDown]

I have a 20 gallon tank with 3 swordtails and 3 fancy guppies. I want to clean the algae out. I have pleco's in my other tanks, so I want something new.

Any suggestion?

 

[Zagz]

With a 20 gal I would recommend 3 otos. They stay small and do a good job of cleaning the tank.

 

[erik7]

I would also recommend a bristlenose catfish. I just got one and so far I love him.

Granted I just put him in 5 min ago so I don't know how good he will do.. but he's so cute!

 

[mr86mister]

i beleive a Clown Pleco would work, they only get up to about 4inches, or like Zagz said, about 3 or 4 otos should work great

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

A clown pleco will eat some algae but also needs some driftwood to munch on. If you've got hair algae, then you may want a siamese algae eater. Just make sure you get a true sae and not a flying fox.

 

[Guest]

If you wanted to you could try some apple snails. Put three in my tank a couple of weeks ago and they seem very happy cleaning the rockwork for my cichlids. They also seem to be doing a better job than my goldnugget pleco. It's just a thought.

 

[Stuart]

The fancy plecos, especially gold nuggets, are hopeless at clearing algae

A bristlenose if your algae is green, sae or otocinclus if its brown, IME.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

apple snails, ghost shrimp, otos are all good IME.

clown plecos don't eat much algae and SAEs will get too big for a 20 gal

HTH