Recommendations for Algae Eaters / "Sucker" fishes in my 35x20x23cm tank?

[hanna]

Alloz~!

Do you guys have recommendations for Algae Eaters / "Cleaning" fishes in my 35x20x23cm tank? Sorry for the noobieness but my current vocab calls them sucker fishes / algae eaters.

Do they eat other fishes waste material or just algae?

Thanks a bunch~!

[meerkat]

For starters, you can get small SAEs (Siamese Algae Eaters)(Scientific Name: Crossocheilus siamensis) and Otos (Scientific Name: Otocinclus affinis), both of wich are excellent starters for "cleaner" fishes.

Another type are Plecos which are also good for this purpose.

Going a bit further, you can also engage other efficient helpers as part of your cleaning crew which is the Amano/Yamato shrimps.

In general, they are not garbage eaters but feed mainly on algae and other microscopic plants/organisms found in fish wastes.

[hanna]

Wow, I din't know that there are so many "cleaner" fishes~! Shrimps eh? Oh maybe there will be for later~! Time to find some SAE or Otos. Let me google some pictures to see how they look like.

Thanks a bunch~!

[antitrust]

Otos are the best i've encountered so far. i've never had much luck with SAEs, they keep dying out on me within a span of 4-5 days.. but Otos... they seem to last forever! they poop alot from the algae they eat, but that's when i know that they're doing their job! :P

[Quixotic]

Do take note that Plecos aren't just merely algae cleaners as different species have different requirements. Some are wood eaters, some are closer to being carnivorous rather than herbivorous and so on.

[hanna]

Carnivorous~!? That's the first time I heard that a sucker, I meant Pleco is carnivorous. Thankfully, I haven't bought any, else they might eat my rasboras!

[Quixotic]

You are confusing carnivorous with predatory. Predators are carnivorous, but carnivorous may not always be predatory. Wikipedia is your best friend, go look up the entry on carnivore.

Plecos, that lean towards a carnivorous diet, will not predate on fishes like rasboras etc., but they will include invertebrates (e.g. crustaceans, insect larvae) in their diet. And if you feed them fish meat, they will not refuse. Here is a good read on the various diets of Plecos.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesw...article_id=294

[hanna]

You are confusing carnivorous with predatory. Predators are carnivorous, but carnivorous may not always be predatory. Wikipedia is your best friend, go look up the entry on carnivore.

Plecos, that lean towards a carnivorous diet, will not predate on fishes like rasboras etc., but they will include invertebrates (e.g. crustaceans, insect larvae) in their diet. And if you feed them fish meat, they will not refuse. Here is a good read on the various diets of Plecos.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesw...article_id=294

Ooops, pardon me! Thanks for the info link! Lots of reading to do.

My tank has just been wiped out by white spot disease so guess I m starting from scratch again...

[torque6]

tank that size abit small to house algae eaters, im having a 1FT 30x30x30 cm and am comtemplating between keeping my 5 months nerite snail or change to oto. Oto has been known to have high mortality issue, so im still in the mids of deciding. Nerites snails are good at cleaning glasses and filter inlets but bioload are high with them burrowing into your foreground uprooting hairgrass/ hc / glosso. They also tend to become less active in PH < 7 water, and mine is currently experiencing shell corrosion. I dose traces on alternate days, and i believe copper do affect their "coloring", I recalled when i bought mine from Colin at crs haven, it was a healthy pink, now,... its looking abit greyish tink on the underside.

[hanna]

Thanks guys~!

I got myself 2 corys & an oto for my tank~!! So far so good~!

[luncheonMeat]

i have 2 SAEs and 10 otos in my 2ft tank. They do a good job! My choice, SAEs. i usually see them working but the otos lazing around. Heres a picture.

[meerkat]

i have 2 SAEs and 10 otos in my 2ft tank. They do a good job! My choice, SAEs. i usually see them working but the otos lazing around.

SAEs do grow very fast and when they are bigger, they will show less interest in their expected duty of munching algae but compete actively with their other tank mates for food pellets and others. In addition they also turn aggressive. It's good you have a pair as they will turn on each other most of the time and not so often on other folks.

Otos, on the other hand, are a hardworking crew to have and you will not regret having these slow-growing little guys around to keep your tank clean of the dreadful algae

Do note that you have quite a big cleaning crew and may have to supplement them with algae tablets for such a small tank where there might not have a lot of algae to feed on.

My two cents...

[hanna]

i have 2 SAEs and 10 otos in my 2ft tank. They do a good job! My choice, SAEs. i usually see them working but the otos lazing around. Heres a picture.

10 otos~!! I've only 1~!

[yyylarry]

i have got 3 otos...and they are lone wolves.

they don't mix with each other...

[pohrichard]

For starters, you can get small SAEs (Siamese Algae Eaters)(Scientific Name: Crossocheilus siamensis) and Otos (Scientific Name: Otocinclus affinis), both of wich are excellent starters for "cleaner" fishes.

Another type are Plecos which are also good for this purpose.

Going a bit further, you can also engage other efficient helpers as part of your cleaning crew which is the Amano/Yamato shrimps.

In general, they are not garbage eaters but feed mainly on algae and other microscopic plants/organisms found in fish wastes.

Plecos nowday not hardworking liao.

[antitrust]

for a tank that small, you might not have enough algae for the oto to eat. that's what happened to mine, sadly. it died of hunger i believe. but i realised it one step too late.

i think a couple of nerites should do the job.