best algea eater???

[stina]

Tell me please is it Amano shrimp the best algea eater, or the title goes to somebody else??? (Oto's or maybe SAE???)

 

[chiahead]

actually the red cherry shrimp are better than the amano shrimp. Check out all the algea eaters at http://www.azgardens.com/. They have a great selection. I like the true SAE's and the bushy nose plecos myself. I havent tried the shrimp as they would be food in my tank.

 

[aspen]

american flag fish and dwarf bushynose plecos are my choices, unless you have fine plants, in which case you should use sae's. AFF's are hard on fine plants which they consume like candy (esp rotalla walachii) then go back to their diet of algae.

rick

 

[stina]

when you say "dwarf bushynose pleco" do you mean on Ancisturs sp.(3) aka common BristleNose or something else??
AFF is exotic fish in my LFS, so it is extremly hard to find...
Shrimps are also not my solution, cuz here on the forum i have realized that shrimps are potential food for my apistos...
Well, what about Loricaria filamentosa???

Also does anybody have exp with Singapore Wood Shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis) aka Stone Shrimp...???

 

[Terje]

unless you have fine plants, in which case you should use sae's.

My experience with the SAE is that it also eats quite a lot of fine plants. They loved my Cabomba, R. Wallichii and java moss. Amanoshrimps eats a lot more of threadalgea than they do.

 

[tjudy]

:lol: After MANY MANY years of trying to keep fine plants algae-free, here is my solution that I have been very happy with for the past two years. Anubias, java fern, java moss, and Bolbitus in tanks with very low light...

 

[swhiting]

i was told cherry shrimp are more for asthetics, but i could be wrong. a friend of mine has a lot of success with red nose pinocchio shrimp. aslo chaetostomas catfish do pretty good. just my two cents

 

[aspen]

i have been buying these small spotted bn plecos, some are gold, others are dark brown, both with small spots. sorry i can't tell you the l number for either. they don't eat sword leaves but do the job on almost anything that grows. i also use mollies and aff's. ime sae's eat algae when they are small, or until they can bully their tankmates out of the food then they simply switch to fish food.

i have tried shrimps a few times and they don't seem to last in my tanks regardless of tankmates. i think that either the local supply isn't that great or maybe shipping them to canada does them in. however shrimps are a great fish to signal too much co2. they will keel over from co2 poisoning first.

ted, i have taken your advice on 1 tank, and the anubias and java fern on the bog wood looks fine, and is very easy to care for, little light (1 4' lamp on a 90 gal), and little aglae to speak of. these bits of wood move from tank to tank as required and provide nice shelter under them for fish that like or need it.

rick

 

[stina]

You wouldn't belive i have found today in my LFS some M.Festivum and i have been told that this fish is AFF... i don't really know if that is true but the price was graet(1,1quid ich!!)...
I would like to buy some cheatasoma speciaes cuz i found them very
pretty, but that fish isn't available in CRO...
Aspen, your bushynose pleco is indeed ancistrus sp.3 and i have them in my tank...
Amano shrimp is only shrimp available in CRO... i am very sorry but our importers don't want to import "egzotic" (less common) fish.... probably cuz we have small amount of serius aquarist's...

 

[Everett]

Wood shrimp are filter feeders. Their webed claws are used to sift food from the water column. Tried to keep them alive on some cyclops, died on my efforts. They won't mess up your plants other than clumsily climbing over them, but small aquaria don't seem to support them.

 

[stina]

OK, now i have true SAE... i have picked them up today in my LFS and they where cheap...
I did buy only two of them...and when they grow up, i will change them for something else...
OK, thanx ppl for good advices!
kind regards :wink:

 

[laetacara1]

My vote goes to bushynose plecos (aka common bristlenose, etc). After years of battling algae they did wonders in our tanks. The only drawback is that the larger ones (say 4" or larger) will turn some of my Mayaca thickets into bird's nests (do the same to Rotala to a lesser extent).

With regard to the lighting vs algae thing, the most trouble free tank is one of our (usually unoccupied) Q/fry tanks which is a 10 g w 15 W normal fluorescent. It has anubias, rotala, amazon swords, and extremely happy mayaca. Algae growth is minimal. Our other tanks even when unoccupied (such as during the set up period, or tanks used for Q/fry) grew enormous amounts of algae and they are 55g w 110W compact fluorescent, 20 g long w 40 W normal fl., and 26 gal w 60 W normal fluor. For the latter three set ups nothing could keep the algae away until the bristlnoses were introduced. Another good thing about the bristlenoses is that they have no interest in fry or eggs, but can usually defend themselves if necessary against dwarf cichlid aggression (although one 4" and two smaller ones were killed by Laetacara dorsigeras).

 

[litesky]

Tell me please is it Amano shrimp the best algea eater, or the title goes to somebody else??? (Oto's or maybe SAE???)

The real answer to this question is:

It depends.

What kind of algae are you fighting? If it's spot algae, then shrimps aren't the algae fighters you're looking for. If u'r fighting just hair algae or green algae, then u'r best friends are those shrimps. I've heard great things about the bushynose pleco, but I've heard reports where they eat the algae so well, that they eat through the plants. So if you have plants, otos and sae's would be best.

In a planted tank, the best solution is to have a team. A group of algae eating shrimps and a group of ottos(or wahtever combo u come up with, as long as there are different species). On top of that, the best way to combat algae is keeping your water parameters in check. Along with that, a steady water changing regiment will one day end u'r war against algae.

In the shrimp world, Cherry Shrimps win the competition. They have a wider variety of algae choices in their diet plan. =)

Hope that helped.

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

i love otos and amano shrimp but the bristlenose (ancistrus) are like algae-eaters on crack! Make sure you have a little driftwood in the tank for them though or they may get a little rough on your plants. I have four ancistrus, a zebra oto and a few amano shrimps and none of my plants have ever been damaged.

 

[litesky]

none of my plants have ever been damaged.

Wow! Good stuff! Hmm...zebra otos... =) RARE!

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

yeah, i lucked out at my local club auction. :wink: They're gorgeous!