Cleaan Up Crew

[jakeroberts]

hi i was wondering if their is any sort of fish or invertabrate that i could use as a clean up crew in my 2.5 gallon planted tank right now it has a betta it doesnt have a filter or heater but the light keeps the tank at 24 degrees continually i dont think snails will be any good as it is a planted tank and they would eat the plants plz help as i am haveing to remove algea every second day. i was thinking of a bristle nose but they would grow to big for a 2.5 gallon wouldnt they plz correct me if i am wrong

regards jakeroberts

 

[MermaidMel]

In my humble opinion, do not add anything. The betta on it's own, as long as you do the regular water maintenance and don't overfeed will be causing minimal waste, if you start adding plecs/snails/shrimp etc. they will cause more ammonia, there is no filtration, the inhabitants will suffer, because if there isn't enough food to go round someone will miss out. I would avoid it.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I would say get a heater and then get some small shrimp (cherry shrimp might be ok but may need something a little bigger). I agree though that I wouldn't add anything at all to a tank without some form of filtration (including a betta).

How well planted is it? Best thing to do to remove algae is to remove whatever source of food it is using. In a tank with no filtration this is likely to be ammonia. Adding a filter will cycle the ammonia and nitrites and then it is easier to keep the nitrates low by doing frequent water changes. More plants will help with this as well.