Is this over doing it as far as "algae clean up crew"??

[Mattymo92]

I currently have a 25 gallon tall tank with a clean up crew consisting of 3 amanos, 2 otos, and a large ivory mystory snail (doesnt eat much of the algae but is AWESOME at eating any and all leftover food... Hes a pig and I love him!)... but I still seem to have some issues with algae... mostly small amounts of staghorn algae, little bits of green hair algae, and im not sure of the name but some of my plants (primarily amazon sword) have dark green spots that almost look like they were painted on the leaves...

I am considering possibly either another oto or two or instead a SAE... and also a nerite or two... would these additions help with my problems? and also would I be possibly over doing it and consequently starving some of them due to competition? currently both my otos are very healthy with round little tummies and my amanos and santiago the mystery snail appear quite healthy.

Thanks in advance!

- Matt M.

[DubSmacks]

I do not think that more animals will solve anything. Just turn down ur lights a little like instead of having them on for 8hrs. do six. That should help more than anything.

-Trent

[Ashnic05]

Turning down your light cycle will help, but no I don't think you're over doing it. If you were to get another algae eater I would suggest an oto, since the more the better with them anyway. Eventually you will probably have to supplement their diet with algae wafers or zucchini. I strongly advise against the SAE, they get about 6"+ and can be very aggressive, especially in a smaller tank.

[Silenced]

you got enough mixes of algae cleaner

[mistahoo]

I'd suggest adding nerites and more plants. IMO nerites are the best algae eaters next to male amano shrimp.

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[shmeeg]

Originally Posted by mistahoo

I'd suggest adding nerites....

Agreed. I put five nerites in a 29 gallon and it was a night and day difference in the amount of algae that was present after about two days.

[mistahoo]

1 nerite cleaned up my 5gal full of algae. He must've been a hungry fella!

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[AirstoND]

Reduce light photoperiod...8hrs?

Did someone say nerites yet?

[mistahoo]

Originally Posted by AirstoND

Reduce light photoperiod...8hrs?

Did someone say nerites yet?

Yup right above ya. I found that reducing the photoperiod didn't help much with my algae problems unless I lowered it to about 5-6 hours. What worked the best for me was adding a bunch of plants.

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[Mattymo92]

Thanks everyone! Im pretty heavily planted right now so I dont know how much more I could add... and I have began lowering my photoperiod from 8 to 6 hours to see if that helps.. I definitely think I may add a few nerites as soon as I find a good place to buy them!

Thanks again everyone!

- Matt M.

[Calmia22]

I have 1 nerite in my puffers 40b. It's amazing how clean that tank is.

[mistahoo]

Originally Posted by Mattymo92

Thanks everyone! Im pretty heavily planted right now so I dont know how much more I could add... and I have began lowering my photoperiod from 8 to 6 hours to see if that helps.. I definitely think I may add a few nerites as soon as I find a good place to buy them!

Thanks again everyone!

- Matt M.

Check out Homelessaquatics.com He sells some cool nerites, other inverts and all kinds of cool livestock.

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