Algae Cleanup Crew With Betta?

[Winterlily]

I've got a few 5.5g tanks, each with a male betta in, and each fairly heavily planted with live plants. I also have too much algae. I understand this is tough to avoid with live plants in the fairly still betta waters, but would like to add some creatures in to help clean some of this stuff away. I currently have some form of hair algae (on the plants) as well as the regular ol' brownish algae (tank walls mostly) that I guess comes from too much light or something. I've read a lot of the threads here about bettas and algae clean up crews and I can't quite get a consensus. So:

I've read that otos and other cats don't do super well long term because of the still water AND it's a toss up as to whether the betta will leave them alone, yes?

Cherry shrimp are too small and are likely to be a tasty snack, yes?

So, if fish (otos, corys, etc) are pretty much out (are they pretty much out?), what's left that will do a good job cleaning the walls and the plants of brown algae and hair algae? Amano shrimp? Ghost shrimp? Olive nerite snails? Some other kind of snail? Something else?

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

[tropic_john]

have about 4 pygmy cories or a few cherry shrimp, only the babies and juves are to small, and you will get a few survive which means you won't need to keep going out to buy more.

 

[Shred]

Completely depends on the personality of the betta, but amano shrimp could work quite well, they're larger than cherries and eat more types of algae. However test it out before you buy a load of them, I can't keep amanos with my betta because he won't leave them alone!

Failing that MTSs would be another option, and pygmy cories as suggested above.

 

[lycaena]

i bought some snails today, figured if the bettas decided to be bullies the snails could at least tuck themselves away in their shells lol.

 

[pippoodle]

for cleaning algae - pitbull plecs do very well in my betta tanks
pygmy corys dont eat algae

 

[doggiebag]

nerite snails are great with bettas, as they have thick strong shells and don't stick out much, very flat to the surface so less to get hold of. My betta accepts them when he won't accept apple snails or any other tank mates, he is fine with nerites. Plus they clean the tank great, brown algae, green, mine eat hair algae too. My tanks are kept so clean since I got them, I rarely see algae now, they keep on top of it fine, I have one in a 25 litre tank and it copes well.

 

[bala]

i have a young bristlenose plec (4cm) in my Betta's tank, they get along wiked there great buddies.

 

[M.R Otter]

Mollies, guppys and some other livebearers eat algea.

 

[lilacamy931]

Sorry to hijack but I have this exact same problem. With say pitbull plecs and nerite snails, what foods are best to substitute for them when the algae starts to get under control?

Also does anyone recommend minimum tank sizes for these species?

 

[boxman]

Mollies, guppys and some other livebearers eat algea.

I wouldn't put guppys with a betta... or any other brightly coloured fish for that matter if I were you

Plecs are fine.

 

[Winterlily]

Wow, thanks guys. Sounds like pitbill plecos and nerite snails and amano shrimp may be my best bet here. A couple of followup questions:

-Do pitbulls plecs have to be kept in groups like otos do/should? If so, how many is minimum?
-As lilacamy asked, what best to feed both when the algae drops too low to sustain them?
-Stupid question but - neither will eat the plants, right?
-Which do you think is better for hair algae, nerite snails or amano shrimp?
-My LFS does not have either one and aren't good about ordering things (you know, "what comes in, comes in") - any suggestions for good places online to get both? (If you need to PM that info instead of posting because of forum rules or something, please do. Also, I'm in the states so as far as ordering/shipping....!)

MTS were mentioned - do they eat algae? I, for some reason, thought they mostly stayed under the substrate eating bits of food etc?

And no... I personally wouldn't put guppies with bettas, that's for sure. I would imagine there are exceptions and someone somewhere manages to do it without problems, but I sure wouldn't risk it, particularly in my small 1-betta tanks (5.5 US gallons each). I can't imagine any of my male bettas accepting any of the livebearers, most definitely not a guppy with long-flowing fins. I've a friend whose female bettas live with a livebearer quite nicely and friendly, but I just sorta know what would happen in my male tanks.

 

[coldcazzie]

you can supplement their feeding with things like lettuce, cucumber, algae wafers - that sort of thing. although I have no idea which is best - probably a certain amount of trial and error is needed?

 

[pippoodle]

i have a young bristlenose plec (4cm) in my Betta's tank, they get along wiked there great buddies.

trouble is Bn's grow to 5" they wouldnt be anygood in a small 25 litre tank

-Do pitbulls plecs have to be kept in groups like otos do/should? If so, how many is minimum? minimum 2 - thats all you need 2 they dont like to be alone

-As lilacamy asked, what best to feed both when the algae drops too low to sustain them? - just drop a couple of algae pellets in 2-3 times a week - they will also eat left over fish food - amanos and pitbulls both do

-Stupid question but - neither will eat the plants, right? - neither will eat plants

-Which do you think is better for hair algae, nerite snails or amano shrimp? Amanos are better on hair algae but my pitbulls eat it to

-My LFS does not have either one and aren't good about ordering things (you know, "what comes in, comes in") - any suggestions for good places online to get both? (If you need to PM that info instead of posting because of forum rules or something, please do. Also, I'm in the states so as far as ordering/shipping....!) -
TRY EBAY . also try putting an add in the classified for USA - make sure if you are buying Amanos in US that you dont buy shrimp with the long claws - as these are sometimes missold as amanos and ghost shrimp in the USA and will damage your bettas fins as they grow

 

[doggiebag]

I have nerites and amano shrimp.........my nerites will eat hair algae, the amano shrimp don't really touch it, when kept with fish they seem to prefer getting the fish scraps than hair algae, though mine is on the glass, if yours is on plants they may eat it more......either way the shrimp are fab and clean the gravel brilliant, the snail looks after the glass and ornaments, so a great team.

 

[pippoodle]

as i said be really carefull about buying amanos in us - a lot of betta keepers have been missold Amanos and ended up with long claw shrimp that try and eat the bettas