Best livestock for algae

[andrew73]

Hi all,

What's the recommended livestock for algae cleaning in general? Hair, black brush or spot algae?

Thanks!

[gummynut]

Usual recommendations would be yamato shrimp and otocinclus.. some would add SAE to the list.

[soulfinder78]

Might want to use Malayan shrimps. Cheap, good and as greedy as yamato. But I never see my shrimps eating hair algae. Spot algae use a card to scrub off will be faster then BBA will depend on severity. Chances are you will need to do some trimming.

[downxxer]

will oto eat shrimplets?

[andrew73]

I've had oto's but unfortunately, they didn't last! Besides, I didn't usually see them munching on the algae! I'd like to try shrimps but unsure if there's enough hiding space for them!

Thanks...will decide on one of the suggestions!

[sillyme]

I have the yamato shrimps and horned nerite snail. Works for me.

[kentoh]

I've had problems with green spot algae.. wonder if yamato would do the trick as they're hard to come off even ottos had difficulties with them.

[Cross]

Don't think any livestock eats green spot can try netrite snails. Excel treatment for BBA is most effective to retify the situation but the cause must still be identified

[kentoh]

Is it true that regular water change will slowly decrease the green spot algae?

[Fuzzy]

Is it true that regular water change will slowly decrease the green spot algae?

It should because you are removing nitrates and phosphates the algae needs to grow when you do fresh water changes.

Also planting more heavily will help decrease nutrients available to algae.

[Kiatster]

Spot algae's arch enemy is the horned nerite. Bring them in to attack the algae.

[magpie]

Horned nerite only eats brown algae from what I observed so far in my tank.

[Jungle-mania]

nerite = green spot algae
Malayan shrimps = green hair algae
Yamato = BBA

Otos are really slow and need to work as a team.

[gummynut]

Heard that the Florida Flag Fish also feed on algae..

[madnugget]

nerites are good! i have rocks in my tank that turn green after sometime. placing nerites on the rock, and its clean as new after a few weeks!

[Jungle-mania]

Heard that the Florida Flag Fish also feed on algae..

Yeap they do, mollies also eat green hair algae too. But IMHO, a bag of malayans do wonders.

[benjaminong88]

Yeap they do, mollies also eat green hair algae too. But IMHO, a bag of malayans do wonders.

seconded. i totally agree. 1 x bag of 100 malayans and you can really see them munching. somemore its dirt cheap.

[ahyann]

i'm looking at malayan shrimps too, has anyone seen LFS stocking them recently?

[kentoh]

how does a horned nerite that eats green spot algae actually looks like?

[unpluggedmusic]

hi where can we buy malayan shrimps and how dirt cheap can we get it for?