Best community algae eaters/cleaners?

[mdrew]

Best community algae eaters/cleaners?

beginner here, starting a 55g tank with gbr and angels and am looking for advice on an excellent community cleaner for my tank. a colourful breed is a definite plus but I am really looking for hearty cleaners.

what do you think?

[CACAdmin]

I haven't kept either of those fish but I Bristlenose plecos (BN's) are pretty good janitors and are quite adapatble to various water parameters so they might be an option. I'll sure you'll get more suggestions shortly.

[silvak]

My first thought was some otos, but you mentioned hearty and they can be sensitive especially when you first introduce them. Shrimp probably would get eaten. Either a Siamese Algae Eater (a REAL one) or a pleco...... probably a bristle nose and not a common would be best.

I've only had otos, so there are others here that can offer some more specifics on the others. And "Welcome to the forum!"

[Laura]

GBR is German Blue Ram?

I would suggest a couple of BN plecos - give them some caves and the occassional zucchini and you will have a clean tank and happy fish.

Siamese Algae Eaters iME get surprisingly large - mine are probably 5" long, and they behave badly when you have less than 3. They also won't clean the glass the way a BN will.

[fan4guppy]

There are several really good Algae Eating L series Catfish. Bristlenose is very commonly used as many have mentioned but there are a few others that are good janitors. When I had my angel tank set up I used Clown Plecos and Rubber Nose Plecos which remain rather small and do not bother angelfish and wont bother the rams too much.

If you have lots of fuzz algae, Black Mollies are quite interesting but do better with a little more salinity in the water than the German Blue Rams.

Your Ph level may affect decisions too in this regard as some species may do better in certain water conditions.

[GaryofMontreal]

There are fish that will help - Otocinclus and Ancistrus, but YOU are the best algae cleaner in your tank. I've never found a fish that was the 'magic bullet' for algae.

[vince0]

theres more to algea than meets the eye. In a lot of cases, you can prevent algea from getting a strong foothold in your tank by keeping the fertilizers in your tank in balance. You can also play with the photoperiod, as long as your lights are on less than 12 hours and you have enough plants to use up the nutrients, you probably won't have problems with algea