Best Algae Eater?

[recDNA]

What is the best algae eater in a tank of Socolofi. Obviously it must be tolerant of hard water and high pH. I put a common Pleco in and he just mopes and gets picked on. No relief of algae problem.

Biweekly 25% water changes with Python gravel vac, Phosphates .05 ppm, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 15 ppm, pH 8.0, dKH 7, dGH 6

 

[Jesse]

If a pleco didnt work...then I wouldnt know what. Maybe corey cats...or chinese algae eaters...though they really dont eat the small algae.

 

[semper fi]

try a vc 10. fast little fish that just loves the algae. best if kept by themselves.

semper fi

 

[Dubby]

vc10??? i'm new to this....

 

[semper fi]

placidochromis milomo. comes from africa. very cool fish. does not need it own kind to survive. will only look for a mate when it wants to mate and then moves on. the true loner of the fish world. does not get too large. nice temperament for the community. very fast. that is where they get their trade name.

http/www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSum...ary.cfm?ID=2148

love these fish!

semper fi

 

[recDNA]

But with Socolofi?

 

[semper fi]

as long as they are given hiding places. kept mine with mbuna.

semper fi

 

[Harmonic]

Hey rec. You know that algae is good for socolofis as a fiber supplement? So the socolofis themselves are algae eaters.

How long has the pleco been in there? It might just need more time to settle in, or need to grow a little bit before becoming effecting at algae control.

Your phosphates could be contributing as well. .05ppm isn't a whole lot, and 15ppm nitrate isn't a whole lot, but combined they're sure not helping the problem. I wouldn't say to change your waterchange routine just yet, but you might think about going weekly for a month or two and see what happens if the pleco doesn't come around.

There are also some rather complicated saltwater based tricks for algae control if nothing else works for you. Let me know if you're interested.

P.S., If you do any scrubbing or other cleaning to try to physically remove the algae, you must do a water change right afterwards. Otherwise, the algae just latches on somewhere else and grows there...

 

[Nik]

Not an expert on algae eaters but with 17 tanks running I have always favoured the bristlenose catfish. They're always busy and pretty easy to get breeding.

As long as the tank has some bogwood to supply it's need for fibre they get on fine and don't take any hassle from fish that are much larger than themselves.

Can we see a piccy of a VC.10 - as I've never heard of them??

 

[semper fi]

will post a pic of one of mine in the member's pic

semper fi

 

[recDNA]

I change water twice a week now! The phosphate is in the tap water.

 

[-=DG=-]

I wouldnt bother with corys. My malawi shredded them up. I have 3 plecos which now and then get their fins picked at. But there is one algae eater who stands up against these bully malawi... My sucking loach. I reckon he is the only fish without a single nipped fin. He even chases the malawi! Even my aratus gets it from my loach (whos called Loachy McLoach)

 

[Pufferpack]

We had a couple of common plecs in our assorted Cichlid tank, at first they ate algae, but as soon as they got a taste for frozen bloodworm and beefheart they wouldn't touch algea anymore, not even the spirilum disks. The plecs have been removed due to the amount of waste they contributed to the tank. After they were removed one of our Kribs started picking at some algae and got a taste for it, once the rest of the cichlids saw this they all started to nibble at the rocks and plants (even the Mbunas) and seem to do a good job controlling everything but some of the brown stuff, that we still have to clean off the plastic plants once in a while.

 

[recDNA]

My Mbuna eat algae on plants but don't make any effort to clean algae off the glass. I've never heard of a sucking loach. Do you know the genus/species or where I can get more info? Do they eat algae off glass?

 

[-=DG=-]

Here he is. He eats algae of anything. I think the reason why he hasnt got lazy like my 3 plecos is because he has difficulty eating the algae wafers.

sucking loach info