Algea eating fish for a 20 gallon community tank

[TECKSPEED]

Hi all,

Im interested in an algae eating fish for my 20 gallon low tech community tank.

I have a good amount of amazon swords some moneywort and java fern.

What would be a good algae eater for this community tank:
- 1 betta
- 8 neon tetra
- 6 black neon tetra
- ramshorn snail (blue)
- a few ghost shrimp


I would like input, suggestions, or anything you think is valuable for me to know going into this.

Attached is my current tank setup

Thanks

Teckspeed

[seuadr]

i have a chineese golden algae eater.. which isn't very aptly named.. they prefer to eat ANYTHING over algae. it even fights with my fish for sinkers. it has gotten very aggressive with new fish over the years and i believe may have stressed my blue ram to death. i wouldn't personally recommend one, just my 2 cents, if they get recommended by someone else.

i have been having FANTASTIC luck with otos. i bought a pair to keep my puffer tank clean, and within 3 days it was SPOTLESS. i've since been adding a mini algae wafer every 2-3 days to supplement since i am worried they might not have enough to eat. they are tireless eliminators of algae, but they are shy, and much of what i've been told and read suggests that you should have several of them in a tank of that size.

[TECKSPEED]

Originally Posted by seuadr

i have a chineese golden algae eater.. which isn't very aptly named.. they prefer to eat ANYTHING over algae. it even fights with my fish for sinkers. it has gotten very aggressive with new fish over the years and i believe may have stressed my blue ram to death. i wouldn't personally recommend one, just my 2 cents, if they get recommended by someone else.

i have been having FANTASTIC luck with otos. i bought a pair to keep my puffer tank clean, and within 3 days it was SPOTLESS. i've since been adding a mini algae wafer every 2-3 days to supplement since i am worried they might not have enough to eat. they are tireless eliminators of algae, but they are shy, and much of what i've been told and read suggests that you should have several of them in a tank of that size.

With my current stock of fish do i have room for about three or four otos? also what kind of oto should i get and where? would petco or petsmart have them?

[seuadr]

i have less fish in my 36, so stocking density probably is best left for someone else to determine

i got my otos from a LFS, they are mostly wild caught, so i am not sure if a petco or similar would have them. they do not get much larger than an inch, though so there should be plenty of room for 3 or 4 of them.

[TECKSPEED]

Thanks for your input I just need to find some and give the ma shot!

[mfurufuru]

How old its your tank. if you want to add otos, it should be a mature tank. try to get atleast 3. your stocking should be fine.

[TECKSPEED]

my tank is a few months old but i did a substrate change about a week ago...

[Bubba Shrimp]

I have Bristlenose Plecos my 36 gallon it's spotless

[TECKSPEED]

Originally Posted by Bubba Shrimp

I have Bristlenose Plecos my 36 gallon it's spotless

I thought plecos get to big for an aquarium


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[seuadr]

Originally Posted by TECKSPEED

I thought plecos get to big for an aquarium

not all of them. there are quite a few that stay around 2-3 inches. some very colorful and interesting looking ones, too.

[hamato]

To defeat the algae in my 20 long I bought a Bulldog pleco, SAE, about 5 otos and some amano shrimp. I suspect it eventually went away on its own, but now I'm left with an interesting collection of fish.

Results:

SAE actually ate a lot of algae, grew large. Constantly nibbles at any remaining algae he can find on plants/moss. Gets defensive around feeding time if anything goes near his pellets, but otherwise docile.

Otos, never seemed to show interest in any of the unsightly algae that plagued my tank, but they are still alive and well after 6 months and they don't eat any of the pellets I feed.

Amanos only have a couple so no obvious difference.

Bulldog pleco pretty much lurks under his log until feeding time, then will chase away anything near the food. Seemed to show some interest in green algae on the glass but now that that is gone, no data to report.

[Neatfish]

Don't get cory cats all they do is clean the bottom. Thought they would keep my glass clean but nope.

[TECKSPEED]

I've got a lot of algae/diatoms on my leaves, I think they are diatoms but they have never gone away for me at all in my tank and its been set up for months. I just want a fish that will help me out with this


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[okapizebra]

You could always do nerite snails! Awesome algae eaters.

[TECKSPEED]

Originally Posted by okapizebra

You could always do nerite snails! Awesome algae eaters.

I've got a blue ramshorn snail now idk if that helps at all


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