bottom feeder with cichlids

[Cich4cichlids]

I have a 4" salvini, a 6" tiger Oscar, a 6" red devil, a 6" Jack Dempsey, a 6" tinfoil barb, a 7" spotted gar, a 12" lemon Oscar. All get along great, no fighting and all are pellet fed with no live food. The problem is they are very messy and leave a lot of chewed or shredded food scraps. I also have a bit of algae growth. I was wondering what would be a good bottom feeder or scavenger or algae eater for my tank.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Oh I have no idea, that is a rough combo right there. A lot of agressive fish. Maybe try a school of large SAEs. Or try a large catfish of some sort.

 

[Cich4cichlids]

Believe it or not they are all actually very docile, I even had 2 2" polleni cichlids in with them all while my other tank cycled. I'm not as concerned with an aggression issue as something that will just do a good job with the algae or food control.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well I would still say stick with larger bottom feeders just because rule of thumb if aggresion isn't a problem you still shouldn't have fish that can fit in other fishes mouths haha.

I say for algae and extra food a school of SAEs would be great. They take care of algae problems greatly and work awesome as scavangers for extra food. Plus if you get a bigger school they are fun to watch.

 

[Cich4cichlids]

Thanks. I will definitely look into some.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

You could try some large Silver Dollars, but make sure you can take them back if it doesn't work out. Although they are peaceful their size and speed, along with the fact they clean up effectively, might be worthwhile:
DSC_2923 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Video of my oscar food being cleaned up by the SDs.

 

[Cich4cichlids]

I always wondered about silver dollars, thank you for the video too.