Snails, shrimps or ottos?

[Emz]

Hi, I am thinking about getting some algae eating fish for my tank. I clean the glass on a regular basis and it is mostly fine but i have just started to get lots of algae on my plants, my jug ornament and also some on the gravel. There are also some spots of algae on the glass but no amount of scrubbing can seem to get it off!

Its only a 60L tank so SAE's are too big. What does any one suggest as the best algae eaters? I was thinking based on what i've found on the internet either Apple snails, Netrite snails, Amano shrimp or Ottos. Does anyone have any suggestion as to which and how many?

Thanks, Emz :)

[fullpampers]

nerites do a great job. but mine don't seem to go on plants. And they lay eggs everywhere so you end up with little white spots on pretty much everything. But i haven't cleaned my glass in months and it's always clean, so i guess the white spots are a small price to pay.

My otto's do a good job on plants (i need to get more of them, mine are lonely only have 3 left) but wont eat hair algae. They are pretty cool fish to have but pretty delicate and do better in groups. So buy a couple more than you want because you're pretty much sure that some will die in the first couple of days.

If i were you I'd get both, depending on what else you have in the tank maybe 1 nerite and 5-6 ottos they are low bioload and don't take up too much space anyway.

Don't forget to feed them some veggies and algae wafers, They'll go through you're algae in no time.

Another option would be fast growing plants. They use up nutrients before the algae gets it.

[nmb7895]

Nerites move slow as sin, but they can't lay eggs in fresh water so you can get a bunch of them.

Well, maybe it's just mine, but even my baby Ramshorn snails manage to move faster than my Nerite...

[fullpampers]

they do lay eggs in freshwater, but the eggs won't hatch since they need brackish waters for that. But you still get eggs everywhere. and even scrubbing won't get them off of my driftwood and rocks.

[nmb7895]

oh, I thought they couldn't breed at all in freshwater

[andreahp]

I have 4 amano shrimp in my 46gal - they keep everything CLEAN - ornaments, plants, you name it - they are all over the place - move fast. Every night I drop a few algae wafers & some catfish pellets (for my corys) and they pick up what they want and swim off.

[Emz]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think i may start with a couple of nerite and see how i go, having said that i don't think i have seen them anywhere so fingers crossed i can find some! Does anyone know if any fish eat the snail eggs?

[nmb7895]

It basically entails to the species of fish and the species of snail.

I actually don't know how nerite eggs go, texture wise (I only have one). However, I notice that my Platy will suck up ramshorn snail egg sacs whenever she sees them, and has been a big help in controlling that population.

But something like a mystery snail lays eggs above the surface and they are very hard, chalky eggs. Obviously not many aquarium fish would eat those.

For nerites, I'm pretty sure you'll never get actual babies unless you have salt water, so I wouldn't worry too much about any infertile egg sacs unless it starts polluting the water.

[Emz]

Thanks nmb7895, i may get 1 nerite as a start then and go from there.

[korith]

Shrimp and snails while nice really take care of a little bit of the algae. I have many shrimp tanks, a few of the 10g's have several hundred in them, and the glass can still have a lot of algae on it. A fish of some sort for taking care of the algae would be better. Best solution would be to go after the cause of the algae. Too many phosphates? Too much light? It takes a while, took me several months to dial in the right amount of ferts/fish/light for my 40g planted tank, now I just have to lightly wipe the glass every few weeks to keep algae off.

[procyg]

I was wondering the same thing. My tank is only 4 weeks old but I have started to get quite a bit of algae. it is a 29 gallon fresh with 5 danios and 8 golden pristella tetras. I have about 10 stems of rotalla indica and one medium sword. The tank also has 2 pieces of drift wood and 3 different ornamental decorations. I thought the the algae i was seeing on the decorations and plants was brown algae however i am not so sure now. it is also starting to show on the glass, but is still easy to wipe clean on all things. It is now starting to look longer and fuzzier. I have used easy-life pro fito universal plant fertilizer on a few occasions and reduced my lights to 8 hrs a day (8000k) bulb.

My initial thought was otos but started reading on nerite snails and i though a combo might be good. However my water is on the soft side and i was wondering if that would hurt the snails or shrimp?