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nerite snails and soft water

3319 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by  Monster Fish, 
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i recently got some nerites (zebras, red spot, and horned) to eat beard algae on the java fern in my 20 gallon.

now i don't know if this was such a good choice because they don't like soft water with acidic pH. also, they seem to need regular calcium supplements to maintain their shells. my KH and GH are 2 and pH is usually 6.8-7.1.

would i be better off rehoming the nerites and getting some other algae eater? if so, would 2 amanos be good or how about 3 SAE's? the other fish are 3 swamp darters (get to 2") and 4 upside down catfish.
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Monster Fish
IME, nerites don't eat BBA. They also don't really do well in our soft water, at least in my experience. Have you tried spot treating with hydrogen peroxide or excel? Dunno how the amanos would do with the upside down catfish and the SAE will lose interest in algae as they get larger. Also 3 would be too many for a 20 gallon.
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