Cleanup Crew Recommendations Pls

[lukkbox]

200litre tank and so far i have

3 rummy nose tetras
2 black neon tetra
2 mollys
2 platys
3 cherry barbs

and now i think i.would like to add a cleanup crew that will help to maintain the tank and not eat any fish i am thinkin of some snails that wont breed like rabbits, some colourful shrimps, a plec and some clams/molluscs but i have no idea what ones to get so throw some latin names at me.please!

Only joking about the latin though

cheers!

 

[Questions?]

lol all snails breed like rabbits. Plecos need heavy filtration and don't do much for your tank, compared to the mess they add. I wold recommend maybe some shrimp, or definitely some corydora catfish (bronze and albino are the hardiest in my opinion),the corys and shrimp dont add much to the bioload and eat ay leftover food and are peaceful. But the corydoras need to be kept in groups of 3 or more, preferbaly 6 and like sand or smooth gravel
I hope this help!

 

[crazyforcordoras]

A quote about plecos

" They either eat all of the algae some of the time, or some of the algae all of time"

 

[lukkbox]

lol all snails breed like rabbits. Plecos need heavy filtration and don't do much for your tank, compared to the mess they add. I wold recommend maybe some shrimp, or definitely some corydora catfish (bronze and albino are the hardiest in my opinion),the corys and shrimp dont add much to the bioload and eat ay leftover food and are peaceful. But the corydoras need to be kept in groups of 3 or more, preferbaly 6 and like sand or smooth gravel
I hope this help!

forgot to add, i also have 3 corydoras! lol they are so tiny sometimes i forget they are there haha! my tank is rockin playsand all the way, they love it! thanks

 

[lukkbox]

A quote about plecos

" They either eat all of the algae some of the time, or some of the algae all of time"

i have heard they are messy boogers, but we do quite fancy a plec, as of yet we have very small versions of each type and so it would only be a tiny plec we were looking at getting, i know they are all going to get big at some point but we have friends with virtually empty tanks who can rehome anything that outgrows us, last night i had to rehome a ruby shark cos it was a bully, it went from being the biggest fish in our tank to the smallest in my friends tank and is looking very wary of his silver shark lol

are all snails hermaphrodites are are their some that you could get all males or all females of to stop them bredding like crazy?

 

[alistairw]

A quote about plecos

" They either eat all of the algae some of the time, or some of the algae all of time"

i have heard they are messy boogers, but we do quite fancy a plec, as of yet we have very small versions of each type and so it would only be a tiny plec we were looking at getting, i know they are all going to get big at some point but we have friends with virtually empty tanks who can rehome anything that outgrows us, last night i had to rehome a ruby shark cos it was a bully, it went from being the biggest fish in our tank to the smallest in my friends tank and is looking very wary of his silver shark lol

are all snails hermaphrodites are are their some that you could get all males or all females of to stop them bredding like crazy?

I have 2 zebra nerite snails and 2 golden apple snails in my tank.

The nerites won't breed as they need brackish water for the young and the GA's lay their eggs in clusters at the water line so you can always remove fairly easily if you don't want them.

I would go for these if you can get them. I have seen quite a lot of both on e bay.

Hope this helps.

Al

 

[snazy]

I am the proud owner of a common pleco which is growing quckly but I see no reason why you can't get a bristlenose pleco in this tank? Is it an algae eater you are looking for or is it fish for leftover food at the bottom? Even as low as 3 corys will get rid of leftover food unless you are putting tons of food in the tank. Why not up the corys to 6 of the same type, they'll be happier. As of algae, I am yet to clean the glass of the tank where my pleco lives, he keeps it absolutely spotless.

Nerite snails as previously suggested, ottocinclus fish(you'd need a group of these) and only very few types of pleco are pure algae eaters.

 

[bmonki]

if you are wanting a plec for the algae, dont get a clown. our clowns hide constantly (the female occasionally eats the algae off the glass but gets bored fast ad goes back under her bridge. the male just stays on his driftwood watching everyone else)

i've just invested in some nerite snails which are due to arrive on tuesday to keep a lid on our algae problem - the no breeding thing was a major plus

 

[snazy]

if you are wanting a plec for the algae, dont get a clown. our clowns hide constantly (the female occasionally eats the algae off the glass but gets bored fast ad goes back under her bridge. the male just stays on his driftwood watching everyone else)

i've just invested in some nerite snails which are due to arrive on tuesday to keep a lid on our algae problem - the no breeding thing was a major plus

What type of clown is it? The clown plecos are not truly algae eaters. From the top of my head, the common pleco types, the bristlenose and butterfly pleco are algae eaters. The butterfly is sometimes called a clown pleco but there is another pleco called "clown pleco" which is not a true algae eater. Many people presume that if it is a pleco, it is an algae eater

 

[Questions?]

female snails can impregnate themselves, even though they dont always lay the eggs
im pretty sure snails have male and female sex organs

 

[snazy]

Nerite snails can't breed in freshwater tanks but grown adults live in freshwater so they are just about the only algae eating snails that will never mutliply in a freshwater tank.

 

[Questions?]

alright i might try out some nerite snails, i never got them, because of the breeding problem

 

[Cazgar]

In my experience nerite snails are poop machines, never seen a snail poop so much
What is you're wanting a clean up crew to do?
No fish or snail will eat poop, & if you're wanting something to clean up uneaten food, why not just cut back on feeding

 

[Questions?]

java moss will decompose the poop i am pretty sure, because they feed on amonia and nitrites

 

[mossonthemoon]

In my experience nerite snails are poop machines, never seen a snail poop so much
What is you're wanting a clean up crew to do?
No fish or snail will eat poop, & if you're wanting something to clean up uneaten food, why not just cut back on feeding

ALL of my fish eat poop! But they just poop it right back out again so it doesn't really clean the tank. Anything that "cleans" the tank will still leave poop roughly equal to what it took away. I have never found anything that will clean the tank other than myself.